Townsend Barn Nursery

Townsend Barn Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY439507 Inspection date 21/05/2012 Inspector Jenny Read

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Setting address Townsend Court, Poulshot, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 1SD

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Telephone number 01380828436 Email office@townsendbarnnursery.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. 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

Townsend Barn Nursery registered in 2011 and is privately owned and run by a partnership board. The nursery operates from three rooms of a converted Barn and serves Poulshot and the surrounding villages. There is a hard-standing outdoor play area and access to the grounds surrounding the barn, including a woodland, nature garden, allotment and tennis court. The nursery employs seven staff, which includes the manager, owner and cook, to work directly with the children. The manager holds National Vocational Qualification in Management at level 4 and three staff hold appropriate early years qualifications to level 3. One member of staff is working towards a Foundation Degree in Early Years.

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Description of the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. It may provide care for 30 children under eight years, of these, all may be in the early years age group at any one time, and of these, 14 may be under two years at any one time. There are currently 42 children on roll in the early years age group, attending on a full and part-time basis. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and who learn English as an additional language. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm all year round, excluding bank holiday periods.

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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

Children are confident, motivated learners. Effective staff support through good use of observation and assessment overall enables them to meet children's individual needs. For the most part, indoor play spaces and effective use of the various stimulating outdoor play areas enhance children's learning and experiences successfully. Robust arrangements exist to promote children's self-esteem and to ensure their health. Outstanding partnerships with parents encourage them to be heavily involved in the nursery and their children's education. Leaders and management are highly motivated, communicate ambition and drive and secure improvement well. Self-evaluation is effective and founded on robust evidence, tackling key areas of weakness and building on areas of strength to improve outcomes for children.

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further?

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

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further?

 develop further organisation and presentation of resources and equipment in the baby room to create a more homely, inviting play space This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006  extend and up-date children's learning journeys to enhance planning for children's next steps.

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the early years provision

Children are secure and their health, safety and welfare well met because safeguarding arrangements are robust. The well-qualified staff team have the skills and expertise to provide good quality care because of extensive recruitment, vetting and induction procedures and very good access to training. Staff demonstrate an excellent knowledge of the well-written policies and procedures. and implement them extremely well. This helps to promote children's needs and support the smooth running of the nursery. Staff are very confident in identifying any child at risk of harm and the procedures to follow with any child welfare concerns. Thorough arrival and collection arrangements safeguard children's welfare successfully. Inviting play spaces and well-organised, innovative use of resources in the pre-school and toddler rooms promote children's learning effectively. Excellent access to the numerous, stimulating natural outdoor play

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the early years provision

areas, such as the woodland, nature area, allotment and growing areas create a sustainable environment that is conducive to learning.

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the early years provision

Self-evaluation is thorough, includes information from other quality checks and identifies the provision's strengths and weaknesses.. The nursery seeks the views of parents and children through informal discussions and meetings and feedback is used to help inform important decisions about the nursery. Successfully introducing daily diary sheets, white boards to communicate daily activities and regular parent meetings has significantly improved the information given to parents. This demonstrates the nursery's ability to secure improvements well. The enthusiastic and dedicated staff team receive good support from the manager and proprietors who take an active part in the nursery. They value staff's opinion and communicate high expectations about securing improvement. This stimulates staff's enthusiasm and channels their efforts to good effect, creating a happy, supportive and motivated team. For example, plans for the newly opened baby

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the early years provision

room show their commitment to planning for a good quality resources and environment.

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the early years provision

The nursery place strong emphasis on promoting equality through good knowledge of children's backgrounds and individual needs. Staff work directly with parents to learn key words in their home language and follow closely children's individual care plans. Children learn about their own and other cultures and the wider world successfully as staff use children's own experiences to help plan activities. They learn about Australia and how to get there, following a child's visit and try using chop sticks during Chinese New Year, for example. Staff are proactive in establishing links with the local school and other settings children attend to support transitions, continuity and progression. Staff visit and take photographs of children's schools and share these with children and their parents. This enables them to talk about their school with familiar adults and become accustomed to the new surroundings. Highly positive relationships with all groups of parents enable

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the early years provision

children's needs to be met. Parents receive excellent information about the nursery This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 through a comprehensive prospectus and their engagement in the nursery is exceptional. They take an active part in fund raising events, attend garden parties, social events and celebrations and do activities with the children to share their skills. Staff tailor methods of communication for individual parents with skill, in addition to daily diary sheets and regular parent meetings to discuss progress and achievements. This enables parents to feel very involved in their children's care and learning.

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and outcomes for children

Children develop excellent awareness about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and demonstrate very good independence in their personal care. They know health and hygiene routines and practices very well and understand the importance of hand washing. Staff plan innovative activities that respond to children's own experiences, such as a visit to the dentist. With a toothbrush each, children sing the teeth cleaning song, helping them learn how to clean their teeth properly. Counting how many teeth and introducing their different names, skilfully extends language and learning. Children engage in a wonderful range of physical activities that encourage their enjoyment of exercise. Regular wake and shake, yoga and music sessions encourages the children to dance, stretch and have fun while moving to music. Feeling their heart pumping afterwards and talking about how they need to sit down and rest when tired, skilfully enhances children's

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and outcomes for children

Children show good awareness of how to keep themselves safe and are happy and confident to explore and take risks safely in the knowledge that staff are on hand to support if necessary. They identify risks to themselves and others before going out to play, responding confidently to effective questioning. Activities about fire and termly practise of the escape plan enable most children to learn about the dangers and safe action to take in an emergency. Children are confident, settle well and develop good relationships with their friends and staff. They show high levels of self-esteem and take initiative in learning to manage their own behaviour. They demonstrate rules and boundaries for acceptable behaviour independent of adult prompts. Children feel special and valued because they take turns to be the helper of the day, have their work displayed around the room and are heavily involved in decision-making and daily routines. Children show a particularly good

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and outcomes for children

understanding of diversity. They talk about similarities and differences and learn to count in different languages, such as Spanish and French.

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and outcomes for children

Overall, children make good progress in their learning based on their individual starting points. Pre-school children are thriving because staff are very innovative in using children's interests and own experiences to plan highly stimulating activities. For example, printing with motorbikes and cars to explore patterns and singing songs relating to vehicles cleverly incorporates a child's love of motorbikes. Staff use observation successfully to track children's interests and their progress. They use this information well to identify individual children's next steps, alongside wow This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 vouchers from parents and discussions with children to inform interesting adult-led activities. Although children's next steps are not clearly shown on the planning to illustrate securely the links, staff know them very well and discuss these at weekly

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and outcomes for children

planning meetings. The pre-school lead successfully summarises children's progress and identifies next steps across the six areas of learning each term. This enables them to assess and monitor children's on-going learning rigorously.

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and outcomes for children

Individual learning journals that show children's progress using photographs, annotated examples of their work with links to the six areas of learning are in their early stages. Exceptional questioning and interaction when playing with the dinosaurs, skilfully challenges learning and encourages children to think critically for themselves. The younger children enjoy sand, water, jelly play and have fun investigating paint. They squelch, squeeze and move the paint over their paper and respond well to staff's interest to extend the activity further. Children excitedly talk about the Olympics and use the internet to observe the torch relay. They eagerly design and make their own torches and excitedly run round the garden pretending to carry it to London. Children laugh and have fun as they listen to stories using puppets and benefit from very good opportunities to make marks. They use water and brushes to draw outside and understand that marks carry

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and outcomes for children

meaning when writing their names on their pictures. Children learn to care for living things as they feed the birds and check daily their herbs and plants. They show good understanding about how they need water and sunshine to grow and develop their interest in bugs and the natural environment well. 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 1 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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