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Early years · Early years inspection (CIF)

Carols Kidz Care

Inspected 2 Oct 2012 · published 26 Oct 2012 · URN EY446221

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Summary

Requires improvement

Shirley Peart

What we read, and from where

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  • Inspection datesingle source

    2 Oct 2012

  • Inspectors verified

    Shirley Peart

  • Overall effectivenesssingle source

    Requires improvement

  • Postcode verified

    NE22 7JQ

  • Name on report verified

    Carols Kidz Care

  • URN verified

    EY446221

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of the report

Deep dive

What this report says

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Grade profile

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  • OverallRequires improvement

Tone of the report

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+14Mostly positivemore positive than 57% of reports of this type graded Requires improvement
OutstandingGoodMetRINot metInadequate

In line with other reports of this type graded Requires improvement.

Markers show where typical reports of each grade sit.

Praiseenjoyvery wellfeel safecaringenjoymentsecureclearprecise
Criticisminadequatenot alwayslimitednot sufficientlynot metinconsistenciesrequires improvementnot effective

How the report reads, start to finish

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FindingsAbout the inspectionWhat needs to improve positive critical
  • Findings254w−24
  • What needs to improve1769w+25

Strengths

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No standout praise found.

Concerns

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Next steps

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Anatomy of the report

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Pages
9
Words of findings
1,976
longer than usual (typical 773)
Reading level
Hard
Flesch 47, typical 48
Average sentence
19 words
Next steps
8
typical 8
Hedged sentences
10%
“some”, “not always”, “most”…

Where the words go

Findings 8%What needs to improve 59%About the inspection 33%

Full report text

Carols Kidz Care 20 School Road, BEDLINGTON, Northumberland, NE22 7JQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/10/2012 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: Not Applicable How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 Children enter the nursery happily, which shows that they feel safe and secure. They are well looked after as the staff are genuinely caring and responsive, this ensures that children's well-being is fully promoted.  Children enjoy their activities, such as singing, moving to action songs and using musical instruments, which supports their creative development appropriately.  The owner is fully committed to the provision, she supports her staff and works well with parents to ensure that they contribute and share information about their children.

p.1

It is not yet good because

 Children have few opportunities to use tactile materials and drawing/writing implements during child-initiated play as these are not freely available and generally only used during planned activities. This limits children's opportunities to express and inspire their exploration instincts and sensory opportunities.  The monitoring of the assessment systems does not always identify an accurate understanding of all children's skills, abilities and progress. As a result, some planned experiences have limited challenge for children.  Documentation is not always accurately completed. Arrangements for information sharing and partnership working with other early years providers and schools is not sufficiently effective in supporting children's learning.

p.1

Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are scheduled:  at least once in every inspection cycle. The current cycle ends on 31 July 2016  more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged as inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage; or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised for inspection where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to children, both staff members and the owner who were present on the day and some of the parents.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed routines, equipment, environment and viewed a sample of documentation.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the one room that was being used and the outdoor area.

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Information about the setting

Carols Kidz Care was registered in April 2012. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The group operates from a converted building, which is situated in a residential area in Bedlington, Northumberland. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play.

p.2

Information about the setting

The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7am until 6pm. The nursery also offers out of school and wrap around care to and from the nearby schools. Children are able to attend for a variety of sessions and full days. There are currently 22 children attending who are within the early years age range and 17 children aged over five years who attend either before and after school and/or in school holidays. The nursery provides funded early education for children and supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language.

p.2

Information about the setting

The nursery is managed by a private provider. The nursery employs three members of child care staff, of these, the manager holds a level 4 qualification, one staff member holds a level 3 and the owner and another staff member hold a level 2 and are working towards their level 3 qualification.

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must:

 ensure a clear record is kept of the hours of children's actual attendance.

p.3

To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 provide more freely available media, materials and sensory experiences such as sand, water, paint, gloop, glue, drawing and writing implements, to give children further opportunities to express and inspire their exploratory instincts

p.3

To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 monitor the planning and assessment systems further to ensure that these are precise and display an accurate understanding of all children's skills, abilities and progress, to ensure that learning experiences are effective in helping children to make progress

p.3

To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 develop information sharing and partnership working with other early years providers and schools that children attend, to ensure that children's learning and progress is further supported.

p.3

who attend

Staff observe children when they first start at the provision, this together with their liaison with parents ensures they establish children's starting points for learning. Along with parents, the staff identify any issues that they need to concentrate on to help children make progress. Some staff are using the 'Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage,' to track the progress children are making, although, this is not consistent. Children enjoy their time in the nursery. They eagerly take part in group singing time, joining in enthusiastically with familiar songs. Staff extend the children's enjoyment and this keen interest by adding a varied range of musical instruments and by putting on taped songs that all children know, enjoy and sing along to. Children eagerly bang drums, blow flutes and tap xylophones. This supports this aspect of their creative development well. The children take part in regular adult-led planned activities, such as making musical

p.3

who attend

instruments out of small cereal boxes, tape and different dried pasta shapes. They follow this through as they paint these in the afternoon. Children also enjoy using play dough during planned activities. However, children have limited opportunities to use these creative materials during their self-initiated play as these are not freely available. Resources like water, sand, gloop, gluing and, drawing and writing implements are also only used during planned activities, which reduces children's opportunities to independently express and inspire their explorative instincts.

p.4

who attend

Staff support children adequately in their learning for example, they repeat words that toddlers say to reinforce their communication and speaking skills. They ask children how many plates they need when setting up the table for lunch, which supports their early mathematical understanding through everyday tasks. They also sit with children to help them complete a range of jigsaws and pointing out colours and shapes to extend their problem solving skills.

p.4

who attend

Children prod and poke the play dough and bring it to adults to smell and to show them what they have made. The staff and children visit the library every week and bring a selection of books away with them of their choice. They also listen to story times at the library, which successfully supports their literacy skills. Children happily put away the toys into boxes and onto shelves when the 'tidy up' song is played and work cooperatively. This helps them to develop responsibility and ownership of their environment.

p.4

The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children play in a welcoming nursery. Comfortable settees, rugs and household storage units and the pet guinea pigs give the nursery a homely feel. Staff are caring in their approach, therefore children feel safe and secure. Many of the children are self-assured and confident, they enter happily and leave their parents easily, some children bring in their comfort items but these are soon forgotten as they start to play. Their behaviour is good and staff use gentle reminders about why they should not snatch toys and what they should do instead, which helps children to learn right from wrong. Children are very independent as they find their coats, recognise their symbol and help to give out cups, plates and cutlery ready for lunch. Staff remind children why they should not climb on chairs and encourage them to walk carefully to the bathroom, which teaches them about safe practices. Children are beginning to understand about good hygiene practices for

p.4

The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

example, when staff ask children what they should do before snack the older pre-school children unanimously say 'wash our hands.'

p.4

The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children enjoy a varied diet of home cooked food for lunch and tea. Healthy snacks of cheese, grapes and breadsticks are also offered and children make choices about what they would like to drink. Staff are aware of any dietary or eating problems and provide good support to children with specific needs during mealtimes. Young babies are very well cared for they have designated key persons who nurture and care for them very well. All babies and younger toddlers eat and sleep as part of their normal routine rather than the nursery routine, which ensures that their individual care needs are well met.

p.4

The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children benefit from daily fresh air as they play in the yard area or visit the nearby park. Planned outings to an adventure park, so that children use extensive climbing equipment and have contact with animals, ensure that they learn about their community and develop their physical skills well. This also adds to their enjoyment and learning further. Children love to be outside, they get excited when it is time to go out, eagerly find their coats and tell the staff that they will play on the 'red bike' and their friend will play in the 'red car'. They manoeuvre sit and ride toys, scooters and bikes competently and ride these carefully around the space and enjoy whizzing down the ramp. They use bats with good control as they aim to hit the ball as it swings around the post, which demonstrates good emerging hand eye coordination.

p.5

provision

The nursery provision is still developing. The owner is committed and genuinely cares for the children that attend and the staff that work for her. Staff have a basic understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, as some of them have relevant qualifications or have recently qualified, although the owner is committed to developing her own and the staff's skills as they attend regular training. For example, the owner is attending a comprehensive appraisal and supervision course in the near future, to help her monitor staff's performance to ensure that they develop their skills in childcare and education further.

p.5

provision

The owner is aware of the importance of involving the staff team and parents in continuous improvement. The staff, owner and manager meet regularly as a team to discuss the nursery provision, activities, particular children and the environment, which shows that they do some reviews to help them improve the nursery to benefit the children. However, there are some inconsistencies in monitoring the planning and assessment systems to ensure that they are precise and display an accurate understanding of all children's skills, abilities and progress. This results in some learning experiences having limited challenge for children.

p.5

provision

The owner has a positive attitude to equal opportunities and treats everyone as an equal and would not discriminate. There are some images displayed that reflect our diverse society and the children celebrate different festivals and events, such as Halloween and Diwali. They visit Chinatown to sample Chinese food and eat with chopsticks, which gives them a good insight into different cultures. There are no children attending who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, the owner is aware of the importance of working closely with outside agencies to support children's welfare and development and has suitable links in place. Home visits can be carried out to support parents where necessary. Many of the children also attend mainstream school or other nursery provision, as staff provide a wrap around service for parents, which is well used. Staff exchange relevant information regarding children's care, although the exchange of

p.5

provision

children's interests and learning is less well developed.

p.6

provision

The owner has a good understanding of safeguarding procedures and staff are attending training in the near future as part of their on going training and development needs. Clear procedures are followed and a suitable safeguarding policy is in place to ensure that children are fully protected. Children are transported in the nursery cars and appropriate insurance is in place and staff use double buggies and reins to ensure children remain safe on outings. Overall, documentation is suitable and in place to support children's safety and welfare such as written risk assessments. However, the attendance records are not sufficiently robust; for example when children attend different settings and wrap around care their actual hours of attendance are not recorded.

p.6

provision

Parents are welcomed warmly into the nursery. When they collect their children they enter the main nursery room, sit on the comfortable settee and spend time chatting to staff about their children. Friendly relationships are apparent, which is due to the approachable nature of the staff and owner. Parents comment that they like the nursery because of 'the chilled out atmosphere'. The informative noticeboard, website and written daily diaries ensure that parents are well informed. Staff encourage parents to take home their children's learning journey books so that they can see the progress their children make. This enables staff to gain further views and comments from parents to improve partnership working.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 take action as specified for the early years register (Records to be kept)(also applies to the voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  take action as specified for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register (Records to be kept)

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY446221 Local authority Northumberland Inspection number 793997

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 15 Total number of places 22 Number of children on roll 39 Name of provider Carol Olsen Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 07834632247

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

p.8

Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

p.8

Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

p.8

Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises that are usually their own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

p.8

Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. 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,

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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