Wren House Nursery School

Wren House Nursery School Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY360412 Inspection date 27/04/2011 Inspector Fler Wright

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Setting address Wren House Nursery School, 4-6 Salehurst Road, EASTBOURNE, East Sussex, BN21 1QS Telephone number 01323 731 530 Email wrenhousenursery@hotmail.co.uk Type of setting Childcare - Non-Domestic 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

Wren House Nursery School opened in 2007 under new ownership. It operates from five adjacent rooms within in a building in the Old Town area of Eastbourne. The nursery has sole use of the premises. The setting is near to schools, parks and shops. A maximum of 26 children may attend at any one time. The group opens five days a week for 47 weeks of the year. They close for two weeks at Christmas, one week at Easter and for the last two weeks in August. Sessions are from 8.30am until 5.15pm. All children share access to a secure outdoor play area.

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Description of the setting

There are currently 48 children from one to under five years on roll. Children come from a wide catchment area. The nursery is registered by Ofsted on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register and are in receipt of funding for early education. The nursery are able to offer support to children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and to those children who speak English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

The setting employs six staff, five of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is satisfactory.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Children enjoy their time at the nursery as they have access to a broad range of activities and resources that ensure they remain busy and are engrossed in their play. However, the items available are not always organised effectively to support child led learning, and full and effective use is not made of the outdoor environment. Children's interests inform the planning helping to ensure they enjoy the experiences available to them, although observational assessment is not systematic, meaning learning opportunities are missed and it is hard to establish how well children are progressing as their starting points are not identified. The risk assessment has not been updated for over three years, which is a breach of a specific legal requirement although the daily checks in place ensure the environment remains safe for children. Daily two-way exchanges of information with parents ensure children's individual needs are met, although there are limited

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

opportunities for parents to be practically involved in their child's learning. Regular self-evaluation ensures that priorities for development are identified and have a beneficial impact on children's welfare, although not all plans are robust and effective. The nursery demonstrates a satisfactory capacity to maintain continuous improvement.

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further?

To meet the specific requirements of the EYFS, the registered person must: This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006  Conduct a risk assessment and record when it was carried out and by whom; regularly review the risk assessment, at least once a year, and include in the record the date of review and any action taken following a review or incident (also applies to both parts of the childcare register) 04/05/2011

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further?

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

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further?

 organise the resources to ensure they enable children to engage in child led, purposeful play and that all areas of the environment, including the outside area, are conducive to learning  ensure observations are used effectively to inform planning, and assessments are carried out systematically in order to highlight how children are progressing and their next steps are identified and used to enable them to achieve  involve parents in practical ways to support their child's learning and development  develop the use of reflective practice and self-evaluation to identify strengths and priorities for development that are well-targeted and will continuously improve the quality of the provision for all children

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the early years provision

Staff are aware of the procedures to follow to ensure children are safeguarded, and most have attended training in this area. All existing injuries are noted; ensuring records are complete in the event of a cause for concern. Daily risk assessments and robust recruitment and vetting procedures help to ensure children remain safe. However, the main risk assessment covering all areas children come into contact with, has not been completed since August 2007. This is a breach of requirement although has very little impact on the children in attendance as the daily checks that are carried out help to ensure risks are identified and kept to a minimum. The vast majority of the staff team have an appropriate first aid qualification, helping to ensure children are well protected in the event of a medical emergency.

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the early years provision

Staff have a secure awareness of their roles and responsibilities and work well as a team. The intimate nature of the setting and the free-flow structure in place, ensures that staff know children well, meaning their individual needs are well catered for. Overall, the environment is bright and welcoming although some areas look tired and well used. The free-flow set up ensures children are able to form close relationships, and access most of the areas within the nursery as they please, increasing their learning potential. The outdoor area is visited throughout the day although children are not currently able to access it during free-flow, and it is not currently used as an effective extension of the indoor environment, slightly hindering the ways children are able to develop and learn. Resources and This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 equipment are in plentiful supply although they are not always well organised to

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the early years provision

enable children to access them easily or ensure all areas are conducive to learning. For example; puzzles and games are stacked on top on each other making it hard for children to select them individually, aprons are not easily accessible to children during messy activities and there are vast quantities of paperwork stored on the sand tray, light box and many of child sized tables, making them difficult for children to utilize to their full potential. Despite this, children are busy and engrossed in their play.

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the early years provision

There are currently no children attending any other settings delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage. The nursery are well aware of their responsibility to share information to ensure consistent delivery of the curriculum as the need arises, and they have done this successfully in the past. All parents, children are staff are made to feel valued and included. Staff find out about children's individual needs and accommodate these accordingly to ensure they are continually met. There are presently no children on role with additional needs or with English as an additional language. Through discussion, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator is able to demonstrate a sound knowledge and understanding of her role, and how she is able to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Parents are very happy with the care provided, and comment in particular that their children eat well at the nursery and are learning all of the time. A communicative

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the early years provision

relationship ensures information is shared regularly although there are few opportunities for parents to be actively involved in their child's leaning. This coupled with the fact that most children's 'learning journals' are not up-to-date, means they are harder to share with parents, slightly hindering the ways children are able to fully progress.

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the early years provision

Self-evaluation is in its early stages although a broad variety of priorities for development have been identified, helping to ensure the nursery improves across all aspects. However, staff are not always proactive in ensuring results are achieved efficiently. For example, withdrawal of funding has hindered further plans for the development of the outside space, and staff have not thought about they ways they can continue with these plans by making best use of the space or resources they have in place already. Staff are confident about the improvements they want to make, although time is a limiting factor in achieving the results they desire. Children have benefitted from the improvements made at the nursery since the last inspection. The owner, manager and staff are all enthusiastic and keen to improve the outcomes for children. Staff attend regular training in order to update their knowledge and skills, helping to benefit the children in their care.

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and outcomes for children

Children demonstrate they feel safe in the nursery environment; they are confident, move around spaces independently and approach staff for support if they need it. They wear hats and use sun cream when using the garden, helping them to understand sun safety. However, they are not always able to learn how to keep themselves safe during everyday situations such as when using scissors, as This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 although staff tell them how to handle them correctly, they give no explanations as to why.

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and outcomes for children

Children enjoy packed lunches supplied by parents, and healthy snacks such as apples, bananas, raisins, and breadsticks. Water is available at all times, and children are offered milk at snack times in addition to this. These choices help to ensure their dietary needs are met, and good eating is encouraged by staff. However, children are not always involved in the setting up of snack time, preparing fruit, or pouring their own drinks, and staff take children's lunches out of their bags for them. This limits the ways children are able to learn from the experience. Staff wipe tables before and after use helping to ensure they are clean, although children eat off of the table at snack time as there are no plates available to them increasing the risk of the spread of infection. Children learn about recycling and re-use resources such as pots during model making, and staff talk to them about making best use of the world's resources such as not wasting

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and outcomes for children

water when washing their hands or cleaning their teeth.

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and outcomes for children

Children behave well, and minor disputes are dealt with appropriately by staff if they are witnessed. Children are beginning to learn how to share and enjoy working together by playing alongside each other doing puzzles for example. There are a range of resources in place to promote equality, diversity and the wider world and these are integrated into the learning environment to ensure children are able to access them freely at all times. Children's own origins are celebrated, for example, by all children enjoying Polish food, or being able to come to nursery in traditional dress.

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and outcomes for children

Children are busy and engrossed in their play. Even young children concentrate for extended periods on placing pegs into peg boards, mark making on dry wipe boards, erasing their marks, and starting again. Some children talk freely of their home lives indicating they feel secure in their surroundings. All children enjoy model making, and their ideas are encouraged by staff, who offer them support as required. Their finished articles are displayed around the play space, showing their contributions are valued. Children enjoy singing and dancing with their friends, and most know the words to a variety of well-known nursery rhymes and songs. They demonstrate good spatial awareness, and competently reach up high, stamp their feet, wiggle their fingers and bodies, and squeal with delight as they sing, indicating they enjoy the sessions immensely.

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and outcomes for children

Staff know children well, and they use this knowledge, rather than the observations they make to inform the planning, as they only make observations of children when they notice a child doing something significant. Staff organise a variety of activities and experiences based on children's current interests and abilities in order to help them progress. However, their starting points are not noted and there is currently no way of systematically assessing children's levels of achievements, making it hard to see how well they are progressing across the areas of the learning. Staff are behind on updating children's learning journals as the systems in place are extensive. There are piles of evidence ready to file, but staff find it hard to find the time to do this effectively.

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and outcomes for children

The resources available are in plentiful supply although the organisation of some of This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 the rooms mean they are not always easily accessible to children. Piles of paperwork, puzzles or books make it hard for children to use all of the tables and chairs available, or access a particular item underneath others. Despite this, children are able to help themselves to a wide range of equipment in low level storage containers, and they make full use of the floor space available to them whilst they play. Children greatly enjoy playing on the cars in the garden area although the outdoor environment is not an effective extension of the inside play space. Many of the resources indoors are not bought outside for children to play with and children are not able to access the garden as they please.

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and outcomes for children

Overall, most children are making sound progress towards the early learning goals. The curriculum is balanced and staff support children as they play and ask some open-ended questions that help children to learn, and develop important skills that will help them for the future. 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 3 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 3 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 3 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 3

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 3 The extent to which children feel safe 3 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 3 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 3 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 3

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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: Not Met (with actions)

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are: Not Met (with actions)

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The registered provider does not meet the requirements of the compulsory and or voluntary part/s of the Childcare Register.

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

To comply with the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register, the registered person must take the following action/s by the specified date:

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

 Take action as specified in the early years section of the report (also applies to the voluntary part of the childcare register). 04/05/2011

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

To comply with the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register, the registered person must take the following action/s by the specified date:

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

 Take action as specified in the early years section of the report (also applies to the voluntary part of the childcare register). 04/05/2011

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