Puddleducks Childrens Nursery Ltd

Puddleducks Childrens Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY440469 Inspection date 08/05/2012 Inspector Janet Singleton

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Setting address 220 Helmshore Road, Haslingden, ROSSENDALE, Lancashire, BB4 4DJ Telephone number 01706228368 Email puddleduckscn@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

Puddleducks Nursery Limited is company owned and was re-registered due to change of name in 2011. The nursery has been operational under the same owner since 1991. It operates from a converted property in Haslingden, Rossendale and serves the local area. The nursery is accessible to all children and there is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Description of the setting

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, for 50 weeks of the year, closing for two weeks holiday over Christmas. Sessions are from 8am until 6pm and children are able to attend for a variety of sessions. A maximum of 38 children may attend the nursery at any one time. There are currently 53 children attending who are within the early years age range. The nursery also offers care to children aged over five years. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and on both the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery provides flexible free entitlement for three- and four-year-olds. The group supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

The nursery employs nine members of child care staff, of these, all hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above. The manager is qualified to a level 6 and has the Early Years Professional Status. The nursery 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 outstanding.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Practitioners promote children's learning with outstanding success as children move freely in a rich and stimulating environment. The setting's individual planning supports children in making significant gains in their learning given their age and starting points. Practitioners have outstanding relationships with parents and others. The superb learning environment is fully inclusive, safe and secure with high quality resources for children to use. Promotion of children's hygiene is generally good. Exceptional organisation of the policies and procedures support the safe and efficient management of the setting. The system for evaluating the quality of the provision is outstanding with clear plans for the future development.

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further?

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

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further?

 improve systems for helping children to attend to their own hygiene needs, for example, ensuring tissues are more readily available to promote their personal independence. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

The arrangements for safeguarding are outstanding as all practitioners are fully aware and very confident of the supporting policies and procedure in place. They know who to report to and the action they must take should they have concerns regarding a child in their care. The nursery has established highly effective working relationships with key agencies to protect children and this, combined with robust recruitment and vetting procedures, ensures children are further safeguarded. Comprehensive induction, regular appraisals and staff meetings ensure the continued suitability of staff. Training is encouraged and based on the identified need of the staff to ensure gaps in their knowledge are addressed and they continue to build their skills and knowledge to meet children's overall needs.

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the early years provision

Practitioners have an excellent understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and have made recent changes to reflect the statutory changes to be implemented in September of this year. Through the individual planning for each child, contributions from parents and the highly skilled observations and completed assessments means children are supported and their individual areas for future learning are addressed and implemented. Resources are of high quality and support the activities provided. They are stored at the child's level enhancing their decision making and allowing them to follow their own learning pathways. Equality and diversity is supported through comprehensive documentation and the involvement of parents and other agencies in meeting children's individual needs. The displaying of posters reflecting a wide range of the differences and similarities of people means children are surrounded with a considerable range of very

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the early years provision

positive images of diversity. The family notice boards with pictures of the children's own families contribute to them feeling involved and valued adding to their feelings of security and being safe. Partnership with others are outstanding with procedures and links in place to support those children who may receive support from external agencies, for example, speech and language. The organisation of the highly stimulating and welcoming environment, the rich and varied educational programme and the excellent staff deployment means children are extremely well supported, inspired and challenged in their play.

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the early years provision

The management team's commitment and effectiveness in bringing about improvement and to improve outcomes for all children is demonstrated through their outstanding leadership. Feedback from the parents is sought and all suggestions for improvement are discussed and acted upon if appropriate. Parents comments include the caring and friendly staff, the progress their children are making and the development of their children's communication skills. This action ensures a reflective approach is taken to continually improve outcomes for all children in order to narrow the achievement gap. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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and outcomes for children

Children play and learn in a highly stimulating environment where they make significant gains in their learning. The practitioners support children and through their quality of teaching means children are making outstanding progress towards the early learning goals. Children are eager to attend and readily run into the setting to be greeted by the staff. They decide what they wish to do, are engaged and interested almost immediately in the many stimulating opportunities available to them. Through the well-planned free-flow children are able to move between the inspiring and challenging outdoor and indoor environment. Excellent use of labels and pictures on the low level storage of the resources assists children in making choices. Younger children delight in using the treasure baskets, for example, of shiny, soft and smelly objects to encourage them to use their senses with all objects being safe and appropriate for such young children. The highly

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and outcomes for children

effective key worker system means children's individual next steps in their learning is clearly identified and planned for in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage. Planning is used to progress children and the comprehensive learning journey records, evidence the outstanding progress children are making towards the early learning goals.

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and outcomes for children

The children are enthralled and excited at the recent arrival of a young collared dove. They have been watching the parent birds and have named them 'Derek' and 'Doris', following their progress as they learn about new life and the natural world. They talk about 'Dudley' the recently fledged bird, and are in awe and wonderment at the whole event. This occurrence ignited children's curiosity to find out more and is now linked to the theme of new life currently being undertaken. They use language to negotiate as they play, chatting about what they are doing as they bath the babies, play in the sand and decide who is to take which role in the home corner. They listen attentively to stories and they concentrate and join in with the story line. They make marks, with younger children delighting in using the chalk board and ascribing meaning to their marks. They relish playing outdoors as they ride wheeled toys, dig in the sand and balance on the balancing beams as

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and outcomes for children

they develop their coordination. They use tools for a purpose as they use rolling pins, glue sticks and scissors in the junk activity developing both their small movements and creative skills. They sit together engaging in discussions at snack time and lunch time as they eat their healthy meals. They mostly manage their coats when playing outside with staff assistance when needed as they develop their self-help skills. However, tissues are not readily available to help children with their hygiene skills and independence in attending to their own noses, for instance, when coming in from outdoors.

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and outcomes for children

Children develop skills for the future as they access the computer and manage the mouse and the programmes with skill and confidence. They move the mouse, clicking to change screens as they complete the task on the programme. They delight in growing sunflowers and make a chart to anticipate how tall their flower will grow, they enjoy watching their flowers grow and use their early calculation and anticipatory skills to decide which is going to be the taller, as they apply their knowledge of mathematics. They enjoy using early phonics, for example, 'a, a, ant' This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 as they learn to sound letters, to listen and progress their language and communication skills necessary for the next stages in their learning. They have recently completed a project based on 'Picasso' and now have a wonderful display of their findings. They learn sign language and this is especially beneficial for

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and outcomes for children

younger children who learn to communicate non-verbally as their oral language skills develop alongside. Staff encourage children to develop very good habits and superb behaviours to enable them to become active learners. They are extremely well behaved with clear boundaries in place. Through observing good hygiene practices with staff and taking part in planned topics to develop their understanding, they learn about their bodies and how to make healthy choices. Excellent routines for daily tasks assist children in feeling relaxed and secure within the safe environment. They are all included and are able to make excellent choices. Overall, children play and learn in highly beneficial environment that develops excellent attitudes to learning and encourages all to become active and interested learners. 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 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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