Crocus Early Years (Hinxton Hall Nursery)

Crocus Early Years (Hinxton Nursery) Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY136664 Inspection date 13/06/2011 Inspector Lindsay Hare

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Setting address Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambs, CB10 1RQ Telephone number 01223 495025 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

Crocus Early Years (Hinxton Nursery) registered in 2001. It is part of the Bright Horizons group. It is situated in a self-contained building on the site of the Wellcome Trust Genome campus in Cambridge. A maximum of 75 children under eight years may attend the setting at any one time and there are four main group rooms. The setting is open each weekday from 8am until 6pm all year round. The setting is registered on the both the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Description of the setting

There are currently 102 children on roll. Children attend a variety of sessions. The setting supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs 32 staff, the majority of whom hold an early years qualification.

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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

The setting is highly effective. It provides an extremely safe and welcoming environment for children, ensuring they are all included and supported. Excellent partnerships between providers, parents and other agencies ensure individual children's needs are met and their protection is assured. Children make excellent progress in most aspects of their learning and development and are involved in the planning of activities. Monitoring and evaluation are robust, with both parents and children meaningfully involved in the process and as a result, actions taken by the setting are well targeted and have had an extremely good impact in bringing about sustained improvement.

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further?

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

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further?

 enhance children's understanding of keeping healthy through everyday routine activities and discussions, such as snack time.

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the early years provision

Children's welfare, care and safety are promoted extremely well. Staff and students have a comprehensive awareness of safeguarding issues and fully understand the procedure to follow if they have a safeguarding concern. All staff receive regular training on safeguarding and several of them have designated roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe from harm. There are extensive recruitment and vetting procedures in place, as well as a thorough induction process for new staff to ensure the suitability of all adults caring for the children. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 Extremely comprehensive risk assessments are carried out, with high regard given for every eventuality as well as daily safety checks to ensure all hazards are minimised. Detailed policies and procedures are implemented consistently and records are kept of the children's daily care. The safe environment and age-

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the early years provision

appropriate equipment and resources are conducive to learning and children clearly benefit as a result. The setting gives very high priority to ensuring resources and the environment are fully sustainable, for example, children grow their own vegetables and herbs and are collecting plastic bottles to construct their own greenhouse. The setting is heavily involved in the environmental ethos of the campus on which it is situated, using nature in art activities, such as making dream catchers from willow branches and making their own recycled paper. The setting won an eco award for its forest area, and children enjoy exploring the logs, wigwams made from willow and the canopy made from leaves.

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the early years provision

Parents and carers are heavily involved in decision making on key matters affecting the setting through well-established and highly inclusive procedures, including self- evaluation and feedback from questionnaires. Parents are well informed about all aspects of their children's achievement, well-being and development through daily discussion, the highlight boards, e-mail newsletters, consultations and sharing of children's learning journeys. They receive detailed guidance and information about precise ways they can support their children's learning and actively contribute to the learning journeys with their own observations at home. A science club has recently been set up where children can choose simple experiments to take home. The setting effectively and actively promotes equality and diversity and tackles unfair discrimination. Staff are successful in taking steps to close identified gaps in children's achievements. Consequently, the outcomes for children and their

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the early years provision

experiences are positive. Adults have an exceptional knowledge of each child's backgrounds and needs as they gather detailed information from parents and initial observations to identify children's starting points and forge positive home/school links. They update their skills and knowledge on a regular basis, effectively helping children to learn and understand the society in which they live. Excellent partnership working takes place to ensure every child receives high levels of support from an early age. Well-established links and communication take place between providers and partners supporting individual children to ensure information is regularly shared and used to promote children's well-being. For example, guidance from the speech therapist is incorporated into the planning for individual children.

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the early years provision

Morale is very high and belief in the setting's success runs through all levels of staff. They attend regular staff meetings and are encouraged to attend ongoing training and continue their own professional development. Rigorous and extensive monitoring, analysis and self-challenge enable the setting to devise exceptionally well-targeted plans, and actions taken by the setting are implemented with precision. Children are also meaningfully involved in self-evaluation by contributing their views and suggestions. These are actively taken on board and developed to enhance the provision and improve outcomes for children. A 'transition talking tub', including items they might find in primary school, such as a bell, a picture of their class teacher and a uniform, has been developed to use with the children to support them in starting school, as feedback from questionnaires suggested This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

children and parents were anxious about this. Further 'talking tubs' are being devised to help with different transitions, such as welcoming a new baby.

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and outcomes for children

A highly stimulating and welcoming environment fully reflects the children's backgrounds, interests and the wider community. The building is bright with lots of natural resources and children's work displayed, and each room has their own outside area which children can access freely, as well as making full use of the campus grounds. Adults are well deployed to support children's learning and welfare and are skilled at promoting positive attitudes to learning. High quality planning and organisation ensure that every child is suitably challenged by the learning experiences provided. Activities are well planned and based upon thorough and accurate observations and assessment. Children behave extremely well.

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and outcomes for children

All children, including babies, show an extremely strong sense of security and belonging within the setting. Babies' individual care needs are displayed in the room and the child's key person follows each child's routine. Babies were observed being given time to wake up fully before sitting down to eat. They are confident, settle well and develop excellent relationships with both staff and their peers, showing excellent negotiation and cooperation skills. All children are valued and engage in a wide range of activities and experiences which help them to value diversity. A variety of cultural and religious festivals are celebrated which are reflective of the families attending. All staff have attended equality and diversity training and continually reflect on their practice, for example, looking at the individual make up of families and ensuring that they are meeting their needs, as well as differentiation in the planning of activities. The written languages displayed

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and outcomes for children

in each room and parents coming in to share aspects of their culture, such as cooking Khari biscuits, increase children's awareness of the world around them

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and outcomes for children

Children play a full and active role in their own learning, showing curiosity and the desire to explore their surroundings. They are confident in communicating their needs to both staff and each other. They are extremely independent, serving themselves or using the snack bar, accessing resources and following simplified pictorial instructions to make their own play dough. Children become aware of number in different contexts, such as a tape measure, speed signs and calculators, and use mathematical language such as more and less. They practise using torches and sharpening their own pencils and are well equipped with the skills they need in order to secure future learning. Children play imaginatively as they run around with fireman hats and hoses. Each room has a book of the month, chosen by the children, and work displayed shows individual children's interpretations of the book.

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and outcomes for children

Most children show a good awareness about what constitutes a healthy lifestyle as they apply their own sun cream from the dispenser and find a sun hat before going outside. They adopt good personal hygiene routines, with pictorial signs to remind them why they need to wash their hands, and understand the importance of This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 healthy eating through planned activities and the pictorial menu, although general everyday discussions about what is healthy were not observed. Children engage in a wide range of physical activities, both indoors and out. They are able to climb on the logs and dig to plant their own vegetables. Children bring their bikes to the setting and use the tennis courts to practise their skills, and many of the children no longer need stabilisers. Babies and very young children appear content and settled because their health, physical and dietary requirements are well met.

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and outcomes for children

Children play a dynamic role in their learning and wherever possible are keen to share ideas and respond to challenges with great enthusiasm. They show high levels of independence, curiosity, imagination and concentration. Children are extremely confident in communicating their thoughts, for example, one child knew her name and the letter it began with and she recognised the similarity when asking the inspector's name. Written labels by the children show their understanding of text having meaning. High quality adult interaction and excellent organisation of routines help babies and very young children to gain a strong sense of security. For example, they access the outside area with age-appropriate resources provided for them and have made picture books of their experiences, such as going for a walk in puddles. Staff use these books with the very young children to reinforce road safety. Children display an excellent awareness of safety

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and outcomes for children

issues and recognise and understand how to keep themselves safe. They complete their own daily risk assessments of the forest and garden area, using photos and a tick sheet and discuss the sticks being sharp as they make fruit kebabs. Visitors to the setting discuss safer cycling with the pre-school children and they understand the need to wear high visibility tabards when walking around the campus. Pictorial reminders are displayed around the room, such as being careful not to trap fingers in the doors. 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 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 1 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 2 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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