Elmwood Nursery

Elmwood Nursery Carshalton College, Nightingale Road, CARSHALTON, Surrey, SM5 2EJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/09/2012 24/09/2008

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 The key person system is effective in helping children to feel safe and secure. Therefore, children are happy, sociable, behave well and have firm friendships with one another.  Communication and relationships between staff and parents is effective, particularly in supporting children with additional needs.  Staff have a good understanding of the importance of encouraging children learning English as an additional language to use their first language to support the development of English. Children confidently use both English and their home language in their play and to communicate.  The manager monitors staff practice and has targeted suitable areas for improvement. She demonstrates a commitment to making continuous improvements to the nursery.

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It is not yet good because

 Opportunities for children to be creative and independent learners are not fully effective due to a lack of attention to the resourcing of the environment. Older and more able children are not consistently challenged to help them reach their full potential, although they are making satisfactory progress overall.  Staff miss opportunities to help children fully develop their understanding of the importance of healthy practices.  The setting has yet to fully establish partnership working with other early years settings, such as childminder's and preschools, to ensure children receive consistent learning support.  The provider has failed to meet the legal requirement for ensuring there is at least one member of staff with a valid paediatric first aid qualification present at all times.

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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.

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Inspection activities

 Two inspectors carried out this inspection in one day.

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Inspection activities

 Inspectors spent equal time observing the outcomes for both groups of children; under twos and over twos, both inside and outside. The inspector sought the views of children through discussion with them and observation of their play.  Three parents were interviewed and their views taken into account.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed leadership issues with both the manager and operations manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled records and documentation relating to: children's progress and development; safeguarding; staff suitability; parent questionnaire responses and newsletters; the settings records relating to quality assurance and self- evaluation.

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Information about the setting

Elmwood Nursery is a well established nursery that moved to its current premises in 2008. It operates from Carshalton Collage of Further Education in the London Borough of Sutton in purpose built premises. The nursery is open each weekday from 08.00 to 18.00 for 51 weeks of the year approximately. It is registered to care for 33 children aged from three months to under eight years.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Year's Register and on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery currently supports a number of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and also supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language. Children attend from a wide catchment area.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 11 members of staff. All staff working with the children hold appropriate early years qualifications. The nursery receives support from an early years adviser from the local authority.

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must:

 ensure that at least one person who has LA approved, current first aid certificate is on the premises at all times when children are present and accompanies children on outings  develop the educational programme further by providing and maintaining new, unusual and challenging resources for children to explore, for example, in the sand pit, older children's garden and the creative area, and by making sure that resources are linked to all children's interests and are freely available

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

 support children's health and self-care by helping them understand that good practices with regard to hygiene can contribute to good health.

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

 develop further the links with other early years providers caring for children, such as childminders and pre-schools, to promote consistency in supporting children's care and education

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who attend

The educational programme enables children to access a suitable range of activities and experiences across the seven areas of learning. All children are making satisfactory progress, based on their starting points for learning overall. This means that children are achieving at least what is expected of them. Concerns are noted, shared with parents and support is sought and secured from appropriate external agencies to help close the gaps in achievement in readiness for school. Staff work in close partnership with external professionals to support individual educational plans for specific children. All children make at least satisfactory progress in the acquisition of communication and language skills. Children who speak English as an additional language confidently use both English and their home languages in their play and children show great interest in each other's language. Staff make sure children are suitably prepared for school, for example by

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who attend

ensuring that they are able to recognise and write their name, link letters to sounds and by helping them to develop their social skills. Staff are beginning to form partnerships with other providers that children attend. However these are not fully developed to promote consistency in children's learning.

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who attend

On occasions practitioners spontaneously and skilfully follow children's lead to support and extend their learning. For example, after noticing children's discovery of the scratchy feeling created by running combs over the front of their t-shirts, musical instruments were taken out of the cupboard and they continued with their experiment by running batons over ridged wooden and stringed instruments. Children enjoy using giant wooden planks and blocks in the garden to make a bus, train or den which encourage their critical thinking and problem solving skills . Children are helped to understand their world through practical experiences and role play. They grow their own tomatoes and sunflower seeds which they take home to plant. Children go on occasional trips, for example to the park or shops. They take part in activities to mark special events, such as the Olympics, 'Red Nose Day' and various cultural and religious festivals. Children's mathematical skills are

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who attend

supported through activities such as cooking and water play whereby they weigh and measure ingredients and experiment with volume and capacity. The giant wooden blocks are constantly available in the garden and well used by the children. However, children are not able to fully develop their critical thinking skills due to a lack of accessible play resources to extend their play. For example, paint, glue, and empty food packaging is not freely available for children to access themselves to extend their learning, particularly for a group of boys who are interested in making rockets. Similarly access to computers is restricted to late afternoon when some children have already gone home. Furthermore, on the morning of inspection staff had set up sand play for the under two's with buckets and spades, but the sandpit was nearly empty and the sand was dry. It is not clear what staff expected children to gain from this activity and some other play areas and activities were

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who attend

equally uninspiring. Staff prioritise partnership working with parents to support children with additional needs, by involving them in planning for and supporting children's learning and development. Staff share all that they know and understand about the Early Years Foundation Stage and children's progress and development towards the early learning goals.

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

Staff establish trusting and meaningful relationships with children during 'settling-in visits' before parents leave them for their first full day. When the time comes arrangements for ensuring younger children's smooth transition to the pre-school room is also individually tailored to minimise separation anxiety. Babies enjoy snuggle times with their key person. Interactions between them show clearly that they feel safe and secure. Older children are encouraged to bring in photographs of their teachers to share with their friends at circle time and talk about their induction visits in preparation for starting school. Children's individual welfare needs, play preferences and usual dispositions are known and supported by their key person who gathers information through observation and discussions with parents. Babies are able to sleep and eat at times consistent with their home routines and parental wishes. Staff are kind, fair and consistent in their management of the children

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

who demonstrate a good understanding of right and wrong. Children form strong friendships in the nursery. Children enjoy being the mealtime helper, they are encouraged to help tidy up at transition times and have free access to the outdoors. However, overall organisation of resources does not fully promote children's independence in initiating their own learning. Children have their own coat peg and space for their personal belongings. There are photographs of the children and their families around the setting. This helps children develop a sense of belonging.

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

Children's welfare is promoted by staff who demonstrate a suitable understanding of their responsibility to act on any safeguarding concerns. Staff monitor children's health and development and all required records and documentation to support children's well-being are in place. Staff explain how they promote road safety and stranger-danger when they go on occasional outings. Children move freely between the indoors and outdoors ensuring that they receive plenty of fresh air. Older children have fewer opportunities to learn to manage and take acceptable risks in their play because equipment lacks challenge. The nursery offers parents the choice of paying for a weekly sports session delivered by an external qualified teacher during term time which runs on the same day each week. This means that not all children have access to this physical activity. Practitioners talk to children about the importance of sun protection. The provision of a

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

nutritionally well-balanced daily diet of snacks and meals is encouraging children to adopt healthy eating habits. Children know that they must wash their hands before eating but are not able to explain why this is important. Opportunities to promote this well are missed by practitioners.

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provision

The provider has failed to ensure that there is a member of staff holding a valid paediatric first aid certificate on the premises at all times when children are present. All members of the team were qualified but their certificate expired in July this year. Although this was noted by the manager and training requested, this was not completed in a timely manner to ensure that staff retained valid certificates. This is a breach of a specific legal requirement. However, the staff team have kept abreast with current practice guidance which minimises the impact on children and a whole team training day has been booked. All other legal requirements are met. There are robust procedures in place for recruiting and vetting suitable staff. Procedures for carrying out risk assessments are generally good. Overall, children's welfare is sufficiently safeguarded by staff who follow the nursery's operational policies and procedures. The staff team have attended training in relation to

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provision

the new revised Early Years Foundation Stage and are becoming increasingly familiar with the new learning and development requirements. Staff are working hard to perfect their systems for carrying out observational assessments to support them in completing the newly required developmental checks on all two-year-olds. However, neither the setting manager nor senior leadership has embedded a systematic process for fully monitoring the effectiveness of the educational programme. As a result, gaps in practice are missed and therefore not addressed. Nonetheless, improvements have been made since the last inspection, for example the provision of a healthy eating programme has been introduced, the over twos room now has a well equipped home corner, and staff have obtained higher qualifications. The manager has identified a number of priorities for improvement, most significantly to develop the use of appraisals by introducing one to one supervision

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provision

sessions and personal development plans for all staff. Room leaders are waiting for the next available leadership training and the nursery has recently signed up to complete a quality assurance accreditation. Management took an active role in the inspection process as they recognised the weaknesses and are committed to driving improvement. The nursery has sustained a strong partnership with parents who report very favourably about the nursery. Parents describe the kind, caring and consistent staff team as a key strength. Parents of children who are about to leave to start full-time school report that their child has had a very happy experience at the nursery and say that they have been well prepared for school.

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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 (Qualifications and Training)  take action as specified for the Early Years Register (Qualifications and Training)

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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 EY368318 Local authority Sutton Inspection number 815570

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 33 Number of children on roll 42 Name of provider Carshalton College Further Education Corporation Date of previous inspection 24/09/2008 Telephone number 0208 544 4583

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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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