Mulberry House Day Nursery Limited

Daydreams Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY275100 Inspection date 22/02/2011 Inspector Mary Kilroy

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Setting address 1 New Hall Road, Sale, Cheshire, M33 2GT

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Telephone number 0161 976 5544 Email michelle@daydreamsnursery.co.uk 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. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as

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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

Daydreams Private Day Nursery opened in 2000. The setting is privately owned and managed. It operates from two floors of a converted house in Sale, Trafford, with adult and children's bathroom facilities on each level of the premises. There are ramps to the front and rear of the premises. Each level has two rooms devoted to the children's use, a conservatory was added in 2008 and the staff room converted into a cot room, or quiet area. The setting serves the local area and has strong links with local schools. There is a fully enclosed play area available for outdoor play.

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Description of the setting

A maximum of 40 children may attend the setting at any one time and there are currently 61 children attending who are within the early years age range. This provision is registered by Ofsted on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare register.

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Description of the setting

The nursery opens each weekday between 7.45am and 6pm all year round, except for bank holidays. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and also supports children who speak English as an additional language or who do not speak English at home. Children are able to attend for a variety of sessions.

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Description of the setting

The setting employs 22 staff, 16 of whom hold appropriate qualifications, such as Nursery Nursing and teaching qualifications. The setting receives support from the local authority.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is good.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Daydreams Private Day Nursery provides a homely, welcoming and stimulating environment for children. The nursery is committed to ensuring every child feels safe and secure which provides a firm basis for children to make good progress in their learning and development. Children's individual needs are met well as staff are proactive in ensuring they have a good knowledge of their individual needs. Strong relationships with parents and others support this effectively. Children's growing independence is supported well in most areas. The owners and staff work closely together to ensure continual improvement of the provision and have established good systems to enable this to happen.

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further?

To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 support children's growing independence and control of what they eat and drink as they do things for themselves, such as serving themselves at mealtimes This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006  extend opportunities for children to develop physical skills, such as, climbing and ensure older children are sufficiently challenged  increase opportunities for children to make marks, write for a purpose and learn that everyday print has meaning in areas such as the home corner.

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the early years provision

Children are cared for in a safe, secure setting, where high ratios of staff are deployed effectively to ensure children are well supervised and supported. A good selection of toys and resources and a warm and welcoming staff team help to create an accessible, stimulating environment where children learn through play. The setting's clear practices, procedures and policies are regularly reviewed. They are clearly understood and implemented by staff, and contribute to the safe and efficient management of the setting. This ensures that children are safeguarded and their needs are met. Effective risk assessments are in place to cover every area and outings. Children learn good strategies to help them remain safe as staff show them how to identify potential hazards. The clear safeguarding policy, and staff's good understanding of child protection, as well as good links with other organisations and parents, means children are protected. Children are further

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the early years provision

safeguarded as the setting has effective recruitment, vetting and induction procedures which help ensure the suitability of staff who work with them. Clear procedures are in place to monitor ongoing suitability and staff are aware of their responsibility to notify management of any changes to the status of their checks. The directors, manager and staff work well together, supporting each other to ensure consistency of care for individual children. They demonstrate a commitment to promoting positive outcomes for children by their individual contributions to the setting's self evaluation processes. The effective system of self-evaluation also incorporates input from parents, children and other professionals. This helps to ensure all aspects of the provision are monitored and evaluated, therefore supporting continuous improvement.

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the early years provision

Staff have established excellent relationships with parents, carers and other providers and this is a real strength of the provision. Good quality information including children's starting points, likes and interests is gathered from parents at the outset. Staff are then able to respond well to children's care needs and ensure they settle well. However, older children are not always sufficiently challenged in the outdoor play area. Parents have opportunities to share their children's progress records, through home/nursery forms and termly reports. Those who expressed an opinion praised the good feedback and frequent exchange of information. Parents are actively encouraged to participate in nursery activities, such as Saturday 'Stay and Play' sessions in a local park. For parents and children, this further promotes the link between home and nursery. Each child is recognised for their uniqueness and staff encourage all children to value differences and diversity, through

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the early years provision

activities and sharing information. For example, through the nursery 'open door' policy, where all parents are welcomed in at any time. Parents value the many outside visits children enjoy, for example to European Christmas markets and to a Chinese restaurant at Chinese New Year. Effective systems are in place to support children with special educational needs and children with English as an additional This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 language, helping them to make good progress. Strong relationships have been established with other providers, particularly during visits to a local school, to promote consistency and continuity of children's care and learning.

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and outcomes for children

Children and parents are given a very warm, friendly welcome on arrival. Children enter with happy smiling faces, some bringing pictures and items from home, which they proudly show to staff. Parents highly praise the happy, secure environment where children are settled and always want to come, sometimes even at weekends. Good relationships are very evident between staff, children and parents and others involved in children's care are warmly welcomed into the nursery. Throughout the nursery, as children settle in, they are appropriately comforted by staff, helping them feel safe and secure. Children develop a sense of belonging as they see displays showing photographs of themselves and their artwork. Staff observe children during play and record their achievements. They effectively use this information to highlight gaps in children's learning and plan next steps for them to work towards. A selection of activities are then planned to

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and outcomes for children

take account of children's interests and individual learning needs and staff successfully build on starting points, likes and interests. Children enjoy the range of activities provided. Routines are used to support children's growing independence skills effectively. For example, they access fresh drinking water to keep themselves well hydrated and confidently self-select toys to add to their play. Toddlers are able to feed themselves, supported by staff. However, older children do not have opportunities to serve themselves or other children at mealtimes. They are good eaters who enjoy healthy food and are able to have more as they wish.

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and outcomes for children

Behaviour is good in the setting. Children begin to understand the need to share and take turns, appropriately supported by staff. Older children respond well to gentle reminders to use stairs safely, securely holding the rail, and not talking or running on the stairs. A range of visitors come into the setting to support topics on safety. Trips out in the local area provide opportunities for children to consolidate skills learned and help them develop an awareness of the world around them. They also enjoy trips to see the Christmas markets, a local farm and meadows. As they walk around the local area, they note environmental changes, which increases their knowledge and understanding of the world. Children enjoy trying out chopsticks on a visit to a Chinese restaurant.

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and outcomes for children

Good methods are used to encourage children to adopt healthy lifestyles. Children follow effective hygiene routines, such as handwashing before meals and verbal and visual reminders help to embed good practice. Staff are vigilant to ensure that individual dietary needs are catered for in terms of allergies, preference and textures for younger babies. Children take part in cooking activities and the nursery presents a tots healthy eating award. Children develop a range of physical skills and benefit from fresh air and exercise through energetic play outdoors. Yoga sessions, music and movement and dance enable children to explore how their bodies move in different ways. Children develop knowledge and understanding of This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 the world as they tend to plants and grass heads in the greenhouse. They eagerly watch to see the 'hair' sprout and enjoy making bird cake for the feeders. The

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and outcomes for children

nursery milkman supplied crates for use in the outdoor area and children access a range of den building materials. Children have good opportunities to make marks in the outside area and activities are moved outside whenever possible. Picnics are enjoyed in warm weather and children enjoy wearing Wellingtons, to splash in puddles during wet weather. Children fill in daily weather boards and discuss changing weather conditions. They take advantage of naturally occurring events, such as snow and carry some inside to observe it closely, investigate and see it melt. They make ice lollies and freeze tiny treasures in ice cube trays, to see how water changes in cold and hot conditions.

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and outcomes for children

Indoors, children develop skills for the future through a range of activities. Older children begin to explore technology and are skilled at using the mouse pad to manipulate fruits into containers using simple programmes. They time turns using an egg timer and have opportunities to pay for their own purchases and count their change on visits to shops and Christmas markets.

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and outcomes for children

Children learn to problem solve, for example, as they request help to make bandages and staff suggest using white paper saying, 'We'll buy real ones later.' Staff help children cut strips, ask how best to secure them and children suggest sellotape, to keep the bandages on. Staff discuss sequences of events saying, 'We draw the picture, then cut it out.' A child asks for assistance to build a house and staff help to plan the best way to proceed, asking, 'Shall we start with the floor first and then build the walls?' They help extend children's learning as they ask a child who counts correctly to 19, 'If we take one away, now how many do we have?'

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and outcomes for children

Parents who commented are all highly satisfied with the care provided and offered no suggestions for improvement. They praise every area of the provision but in particular the warm, friendly, homely environment where nothing is too much trouble. They like the mixed age group of staff and the directors being on site at all times to help with concerns and suggestions. Staff, manager and owners work hard to improve the setting, often implementing requests from parents and children and comments from the suggestion box, or questionnaires. They are proactive and respond promptly to requests and comments. For example, Saturday 'Stay and play' sessions in a local park and digital photo frames, were introduced for parents who work long hours. They have a good understanding of the strengths and minor weaknesses of the setting. Plans for the future, such as developing the outdoor area further, are well targeted. Staff have attended

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and outcomes for children

outdoor play training and some have visited other nurseries to inform themselves about the developments they can make.

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and outcomes for children

Parents say that, 'I am always welcome in my child's room and to stay as long as I like. However late in the day I come, new activities are being put out to stimulate children. I like all the outings, such as, to Christmas markets and a local farm, children and staff are polite, there are excellent relationships and nothing is too much trouble.' 'My child is very happy at Daydreams and has been since the day they started, it is a testament to the comfortable and friendly surroundings of Daydreams. My child chatters all the way home in the car, very excitedly. It is This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 obvious that they have had a fulfilling day and really enjoyed themselves.' 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 2 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 2 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 2 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 2

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 2 The extent to which children feel safe 2 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 2 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 2

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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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