Jordans Village Nursery School

Jordans Village Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY256427 Inspection date 06/07/2011 Inspector Janet Moutter

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Setting address Green West Road, Jordans, Buckinghamshire, HP9 2SY

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Telephone number 0795 6219650 Email 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

Jordans Village Nursery opened in 1975. It operates from Jordans Village Hall in the centre of the village. The nursery has the use of a large hall, smaller room, kitchen and cloakroom facilities. There is a fully enclosed outdoor area. A maximum of 30 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery opens five day a week. Sessions are from 09:00 until 12:00. Afternoon sessions are available from 12 noon until 3.00pm two days a week. Lunch club from 12 noon to 1.30pm is available three days a week. Longer sessions can be provided, based on parents needs.

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Description of the setting

There are currently 41 children from two to five years on roll. Of these, 34 children receive funding for early education. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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Description of the setting

The nursery employs 10 members of staff. Of these, seven hold appropriate relevant childcare qualifications and two staff have nearly completed a level 3 qualification in childcare.

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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 make excellent progress towards the early learning goals in this safe, friendly and very well organised nursery. Staff are motivated and enthusiastic and know children extremely well and effectively plan activities to suit their individual needs. They are on hand at all times to support children's learning and they are developing their outside play area. Effective partnerships with parents, outside agencies and other early years settings ensure excellent continuity in children's care and learning. Self-evaluation processes reflect rigorous monitoring and actions are carefully targeted to ensure continuous improvement. The staff team has made significant improvements since the last inspection.

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further?

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

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further?

 Monitor the outside play provision to ensure all six areas of learning are consistently available, including communication, language and literacy. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

Staff demonstrate an excellent understanding of safeguarding children procedures, such as possible signs of abuse and how to respond to concerns. All staff have undertaken safeguarding training and they all hold appropriate background checks. Rigorous recruitment and induction procedures are in place, and there is a very good level of qualified staff within the team. Effective procedures are in place to ensure children's safety, such as door alarms and high levels of supervision. Comprehensive policies work well in practice and contribute to the safe and efficient management of the nursery.

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the early years provision

The deployment of resources is highly effective. Staff present the environment beautifully with a wide range of very easily accessible resources and activities both indoors and outside. The premises can be divided into three sections with a partition in the main play room and a side room called the 'school room'; staff make excellent use of this flexibility. For example, they provide long periods of uninterrupted free choice play, together with quiet areas for snack times, small group times and one-to-one support. High staff ratios provide outstanding levels of supervision and further opportunities to work flexibly. Staff use excellent organisational skills to ensure that sessions run smoothly and this has a positive impact on children.

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the early years provision

Staff actively promote equality and diversity. They monitor all children closely and respond to their individual needs effectively. They provide good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, in preparation for a child with a hearing impairment all the children are learning to sign at snack time. Subsequently, the child did not enrol, however, the children have continued with this practice. Key persons observe support sessions for individual children with advice from professionals from outside agencies and whole team training, so that they can build on the strategies and activities used and share this with parents.

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the early years provision

Highly effective partnerships are in place with parents and other settings which children attend. Daily communication books enable staff, parents, carers and other early years settings to effectively share information about children's interests and experiences. The nursery operates an 'open door' policy for parents, ensuring that key persons are available to discuss individual children at any time; together with regular parent evenings this ensures that they are kept well informed about their children's progress. Parents state that their children enjoy coming to the nursery, receive excellent support from staff and are making rapid progress.

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the early years provision

The managers are effective in embedding ambition within the staff team and securing improvements in key areas. Since the last inspection, staff have made many changes, including increasing the range and accessibility of resources within the craft area, and improving the policies and safety procedures, such as registration and making the complaints procedure accessible to all. The impact on the children has been worthwhile as they spotaneously create works of art and embellish toys with materials and mediums of their choice. Also, when asked, This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 parents were fully aware of how the nursery staff safeguard their children and that they are confident in the care they provide for their children. Rigorous self- evaluation processes take into account the views of staff, parents and children and identify further areas for potential improvement which are likely to enhance

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and outcomes for children

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at this nursery, where they access outstanding indoor and outdoor play opportunities in a very attractively presented and exciting learning environment. Staff have an excellent understanding of how young children learn and progress effectively through fun, play-based activities. Teaching is rooted in their expert knowledge of the welfare, learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. As a result, children are very well supported through receiving excellent attention and their well-being and achievements are exceptionally high. Children are very settled, happy and confident as the staff interact positively with them in a kind, caring manner. This helps to build excellent, nurturing relationships and enables the children to develop a strong sense of security, trust and self-esteem. All six areas of learning and the principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage are very

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and outcomes for children

naturally threaded through the continuous provision of indoor and outdoor experiences and well planned activities. An excellent balance between adult-led and child-initiated activities ensures that children are appropriately challenged. They play a dynamic role in their own learning through contributing their ideas and developing independence and control over their choices of activities. This helps to excite and sustain their interest and motivates them to become active learners, consequently fostering a very enthusiastic attitude towards learning. Resources are excellent and are stored accessibly, so that the children can exercise personal choice and decision-making throughout the sessions. Well-presented displays of their creative work also help to boost children's pride in their efforts and achievements. Regular high quality and sensitive observations, which are evaluated, are used astutely in order to assess children's abilities, interests and

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and outcomes for children

skills. The staff fully utilise all information gained from a variety of sources to formulate personalised learning plans for each child. As a result, children are engaged in very enjoyable and challenging experiences, which support rapid progress towards the early learning goals from their individual starting points.

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and outcomes for children

The very well-resourced and organised outdoor play areas are particularly enjoyed by the children, as they choose between the indoor and outdoor environments. Due to the safety aspect of the setting and the high ratios of staff to children, a minimum of two staff are outside with the children. Although the play is planned to cover all six areas of learning outside, it is limited in the communication, language and literacy aspect. The children mark make outdoors, but use of the written word is limited, and research has shown this to improve children's recognition in shapes of letters and words.

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and outcomes for children

The children have grown potatoes outside in tubs and these are harvested ready This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 to eat and they have access to the local school allotment. Children have also grown beans, cress and tomatoes. Consequently, the children have opportunities to observe the changing seasons as they run around, balance on blocks they have set out, climb on the play equipment on trips to the gym and benefit from physical exercise in the invigorating fresh air. They are both intrigued and apprehensive at the large ants' nest they discovered while unearthing one tub of potatoes. In this spontaneous learning opportunity, they wondered at the channels the ants had made and the different sized eggs. The theme this term is growing and the children going to school this September have had a project of their own: 'Butterflies'. They help to make sure that the growing conditions were right, made

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and outcomes for children

notes as they studied the stages from egg to butterfly. Children also learn how to grow and take care of plants and vegetables. As well as providing a captivating environment for physical play, the outside area is also a calm and relaxing place for the children to enjoy. They are given time and space to explore the outdoor resources, play with sand and water, observe mini-beasts or simply absorb the soothing ambience of the space as they draw pictures or look at books. Children's language and communication skills are developing exceptionally well. For example, they confidently initiate meaningful conversations with adults and one another, keenly expressing ideas and opinions whilst talking about their experiences. Inside their pack-away playroom, children's understanding of written language is promoted through seeing labels and picture captions around the rooms. Many opportunities to develop early writing skills, through the use of mark-making

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and outcomes for children

materials are available throughout the nursery and in various role play activities. Older children can successfully recognise the letter sounds that make up their name and other words. Numeracy is embedded into the everyday routines and spontaneous activities are used well to help the children develop good mathematical thinking, counting and problem-solving skills. Children use mathematical vocabulary with confidence, they develop their number recognition abilities as they see numbers in the nursery environment and they learn about shape and size as they use puzzles and play games. Information technology skills are being acquired by the children through using CD players, various programmable toys, such as the 'Circus', (with sounds) on loan from the toys library, or the computer. Children explore, experiment, observe, predict and solve problems through early scientific experiments. During a recent discussion about

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and outcomes for children

the environment, the children marvelled at their ability to make a model volcano erupt.

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and outcomes for children

Excellent measures are in place to promote healthy lifestyles and children's understanding of how to stay safe. There is a strong emphasis on caring, sharing, taking turns and children are extremely well behaved. At snack time children choose what they like to eat, they help to prepare and serve snack with some children bringing their own type of healthy options. The children choose when they want to have snack and select from, for example, humus, cucumber and pita bread and use sign language at the table. This was implemented in preparation for a child with special needs, although the child did not join, the children continued to improve their skills just in case. They wash up their own bowls and know that washing hands remove germs. As they learn to be considerate and play together harmoniously, children are developing the requisite social and personal skills to support their future economic well-being.

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and outcomes for children

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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