The Old School House Nursery School

The Old School House Nursery School Benty Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S10 5NF

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 19/10/2012 09/03/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 2 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Practitioners have an excellent understanding of the educational programmes and how young children learn. This means they provide a rich, stimulating and extensive range of resources and activities to support and challenge all children's learning.  Through accurate and precise observation, assessments and excellent communication with parents, practitioners work really well with parents to meet individual children's learning and care needs.  Practitioners form secure emotional attachments with children. Through high levels of engagement with them and effective key person systems children are extremely settled in the setting.  Children are extremely motivated, they are eager to learn, confident and independent learners, who approach their learning with enthusiasm. Practitioners effectively support children's understanding of acceptable boundaries, good health and safety.  Leadership is excellent and through successful and robust monitoring and evaluation

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This provision is outstanding

processes, practitioners maintain high levels of achievement across all areas. High quality performance management means that a well-qualified workforce is working with the children.  Practitioners have an excellent understanding of their roles and responsibilities in regard to the safeguarding and welfare requirements, including child protection issues.

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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

 The inspector arrived at the setting, she had a tour of the premises and observed outdoor play and activities in all rooms across three buildings.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager and registered person. The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning, evidence of suitability of practitioners working within the setting, self-evaluation information and a range of other polices and documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day and through other documentation.

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Information about the setting

The Old School House Nursery School was registered in 1990 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from two converted buildings and a local scout hut all adjacent to each other in the Crosspool area of Sheffield. The setting is one of two settings managed by Old School House Nursery Limited. The setting serves the local and wider community and is accessible to all children. There are fully enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The setting employs 45 members of child care staff. Of these, 33 hold appropriate early years qualifications at Level 3, eight at Level 2, two have Qualified Teacher Status and one is qualified to Early Years Professional Status. The setting opens Monday to Friday 51 weeks of the year. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6.30pm and children can attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 232 children attending of these; 192 children are within the early years age range. The setting provides funded early education for three- and four-year old children. The setting supports children who speak English as an additional language and children with special needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

The setting is a member of the National Day Nursery Association, they have achieved Investors in People and they are a Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (CACHE) approved training centre.

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

 enhance further the information provided to parents in regard to how they can support their child's learning at home and continue to develop the flexible approach to planning so that children's interests are incorporated even more into the any planned themes.

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who attend

Practitioners have an excellent and secure understanding of the learning and development requirements. This means they provide an extensive, rich and varied range of resources and experiences across all the educational programmes to support children's progression. They complete accurate and regular observations on the children and through precise assessments they have a very good awareness of children's individual learning needs. For example, they quickly identify if children need early intervention and they ensure any children who are gifted and talented continue to be challenged. Therefore, through effectively planning for children's individual needs, practitioners help children to make rapid progress in their learning. Practitioners have an excellent understanding of how young children learn and because of this children demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning. For example, practitioners have high levels of engagement in children's

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who attend

play, they encourage children to make independent choices, they effectively praise children's achievements and they skilfully use open-ended questions so that children think, make predications and solve problems for themselves. This promotes children's, personal, social and emotional development and results in motivated children who approach their play with excitement, eagerness and enthusiasm, which means they are active learners.

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who attend

Children of all ages have access to a wide range of resources at all times and practitioners plan activities to support their individual learning needs. In addition, by inviting other professionals into the setting and using the skills of practitioners, children regularly engage in music sessions, tennis coaching and French lessons. Furthermore, through yearly plans, practitioners plan additional activities to enhance the already well-resourced provision; these plans are based around themes and topics. Practitioners recognise some of these themes do not always mirror particular children's likes and needs and they understand the importance of taking a flexible approach to planning. However, there is scope to develop this flexibility even more so children's interests are incorporated further.

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who attend

Practitioners are actively involved in children's play and through excellent interactions, secure knowledge of children learning needs and a well-resourced provision children are progressing really well in their learning. For example, through one-to-one communication with babies, looking at books with younger children and engaging older children in a wide range of social situations, practitioners effectively promote children's communication and language development. Older children confidently hold conversations with adults, younger children are inquisitive and ask lots of questions and babies babble with excitement when interacting with others. Through a wide range of activities, such as babies making marks in the dry cereals and older children making lists in various situations, such as role play and writing their name, children are acquiring the skills they need to support their literacy development. This includes supporting children who show an early interest in reading. For

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who attend

example, older children learn about sounds and letters and for more able children who are starting to recognise words and sentences, practitioners provide activities to foster and challenge these gifted children. All children engage in numerous songs and rhymes, they access a wide range of jigsaws and games so that they learn about number and other mathematical concepts, such as one more, one less, big, small, solving problems, comparison and matching.

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who attend

Practitioners provide plenty of opportunities for children to explore different medias and textures, such as sand, water, paint and cereals. For example, babies and younger children enjoy exploring edible foods, such as custard, with all their bodies and older children create and design their own models by moulding the sand. These activities support children's physical development as they handle, squeeze, prod and manipulate different objects. Children enjoy taking part in physical activities. For example, babies have the space and freedom to roll and crawl. In addition, through spending one-to-one time with individual children, practitioners are able to effectively support children's drive to stand and walk. When playing outdoors, older children enjoy being energetic as they run, ride in the cars, dig and kick balls. In addition, through planned physical play, children learn how to move their bodies in various ways, such as striding, hopping and jumping.

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who attend

They learn to balance objects, such as bean bags on different parts of their body, supporting them in developing control and coordination. Through posters, activities that celebrate different cultural events, walks in the community, looking for mini-beasts, planting and growing and inviting people into the setting, children's development in understanding of the world is fostered extremely well. In addition, children learn about how things work and simple science through a wide range of experiences. For example, babies access resources with flaps, buttons and knobs and older children carry out simple experiments, such as melting ice. In addition, children have access to simple information, communication and technology equipment, such as computers, including a new smart board for the older children. Through a wide variety of role play experiences, arts, crafts, music sessions, which includes exploring different sounds, using music in stories and

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who attend

learning about rhythm, children develop really well in expressive arts and design. For example, older children enjoy acting out stories using musical instruments and younger children use their imagination as they initiate familiar routines, such as feeding baby when playing in the role play area.

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who attend

Practitioners seek detailed and relevant information from parents when children start at the setting. They do this through discussions, settling visits and through written information. This means they have an excellent understanding of children's likes, needs and routines. Practitioners effectively mirror children's routines at home in the setting and this promotes continuity of care. In addition, children are able to bring any comfort items, such as teddies for sleep, which provides security for children. This, alongside an effective key person system contributes to excellent relationships between the children and practitioners. Practitioners provide regular written reports to parents about their child's progress, and through detailed policies, procedures and planning displayed around the setting they are very well informed about how the Early Years Foundation Stage is delivered. Through a number of successful strategies, such as encouraging parents to

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who attend

comment in their child's progress records, practitioners engage parents very well in sharing their child's learning at home.

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

Practitioners are very friendly, they are confident and because they have high expectations of themselves, their practice is exceptional. They provide a welcoming, rich, stimulating, well-resourced and vibrant learning environment for children. This includes making effective use of the outdoor areas and outdoor classrooms to promote children's learning across all areas of learning. Through displaying an extensive range of children's work and photographs around the setting, they provide children with a sense of belonging. Through effective key person systems, high levels of engagement with children, detailed information gathering and settling in visits, practitioners have excellent relationships with children. These secure emotional attachments provide a secure and strong base for children to learn, thrive and progress in an environment that successfully meets their individual needs. For example, when caring for babies and young children,

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

practitioners are skilful in mirroring children's routine at home in the setting. This means children feel very safe in the setting and it promotes their emotional well-being and results in very happy settled children. In addition, to support children's transitions as they move rooms, some key persons involved in their care move with them so that a familiar adult is present as they prepare for their next stage in learning. This also supports children's readiness for school as they learn to become less dependent on their main carer as they get older and more independent. Practitioners are excellent role models for children and through consistent routines and boundaries they provide clear guidance to them about acceptable boundaries appropriate to their ages. As a result, younger children effectively learn about sharing and taking turns and older children show high levels of self-control during their play, often resolving and finding their own solutions to conflict. Through

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

effective routines, such as promoting social mealtimes and providing a wide range of activities that encourage children to play together, children are developing cooperative and respectful relationships with their peers. For example, during role play children engage easily in conversations with their peers and during planned activities, such as French lessons and stories, children listen attentively to what their peers have to say.

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

Practitioner's high regard to safety ensures the learning environment for children is safe. For example, through regular risk assessments and safety checks, they put in place good precautions to minimise hazards. For example, all visitors, parents and children access the setting via a secure entrance and through regularly checking resources, practitioners maintain them to high standards of cleanliness and safety. Through an extensive range of activities, such as inviting the police and fire service to the setting, planning activities around stranger danger, road safety and involving children in fire evacuations, children are developing an excellent understanding of how they can keep themselves safe.

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

Practitioners implement an excellent range of policies and procedures that contribute to promoting children's health. For example, their menu is well-balanced and nutritious; it incorporates all food groups and effectively supports children to understand the importance of making healthy choices. Children's understanding of healthy eating is also enhanced through weekly baking activities and growing their own fruits and vegetables. Children have frequent opportunities to access fresh air and to exercise. For example, practitioners take babies on walks to the local park and in the community to replicate experiences they would have at home. In addition, the older children have trips to the library, museum and pantomimes with an annual summer trip for children and their parents. All children have access to well-resourced outdoor play areas. These outdoor experiences, alongside planned physical activities, effectively support children in

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

understanding the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. Children of all ages are learning about the importance of keeping healthy. For example, through well-established routines, such as hand washing, inviting visitors to the setting, such as dentists, doctors and health professionals, children effectively learn about good health and hygiene. In addition, practitioners adopt excellent hygiene practices to minimise the risk of cross- infection and illness. For example, they routinely wear aprons when serving food and all practitioners complete food hygiene training.

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provision

Practitioners have an excellent understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements and they take their responsibility very seriously to ensure they achieve high standards. All practitioners access basic child protection training and all leaders complete advanced training. This means they have a secure and robust understanding of child protection issues, such as the signs of abuse and neglect. Through accessing this training and comprehensive safeguarding policies, all practitioners, including trainees know who they must report any concerns. The setting maintains a wide range of detailed documentation and policies and through detailed inductions and regular testing of practitioners understanding of these policies, they are effectively implemented across the setting. Practitioners regard to keeping children safe is excellent and through their risk assessments they ensure they maintain resources and the premises to high standards.

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provision

This includes the immediate review of any policies and procedures following any incidents so that action can be taken to minimise future risks. The settings robust recruitment and vetting procedures means that effective systems are in place to ensure staff are suitable to work with children. In addition, rigorous induction, which includes mentoring all new practitioners and trainees, means that everyone at all levels have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. There are excellent systems in place for managing practitioner's performance. For example, high quality supervision, appraisals, peer observation and a targeted programme of professional development results in practitioners constantly improving their already excellent practice and understanding. As a result of these effective processes, a highly skilled and qualified workforce is employed to work with children. In addition, a large number of practitioners are working towards a

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provision

higher qualification, which demonstrates their strong commitment to their own professional development. Effective deployment of practitioners and having clear leadership roles means that the management of the setting promotes consistency and excellence for children of all ages.

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provision

Through numerous systems, practitioners evaluate and monitor the setting, educational programmes and children's progress exceptionally well. For example, regular peer observations contribute to monitoring practice within the setting and a detailed yearly plan ensures all aspects of the service are monitored throughout the year. Management highlight times to randomly sample children's progress files, they target which policies they are going to test practitioners' understanding and they set dates to assess the quality of the educational programmes. In addition, through weekly meetings, management share all action plans, goals, targets and timescales for achieving success, which means all practitioners are aware of the priorities and what they need to do to overcome any identified weaknesses. This ensures the drive for improvement is consistent across the setting and promotes excellent outcomes and achievements for children. Furthermore, the

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provision

setting is an approved training centre and to achieve this they have to maintain high standards as outlined by the Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (CACHE), which includes a yearly inspection. Through this training centre, practitioners effectively share their skills and disseminate their high standards of practice to newer, less experienced practitioners. Practitioners have successfully addressed the recommendations from the last inspection. For example, through purchasing more free choice trolleys, storing resources in clear boxes and extending resources across all areas of the curriculum, including building an outdoor classroom, children have increased opportunities to make safe and independent choices in their play. In addition, by improving how they involve parents, children and practitioners in the monitoring and evaluation of the setting, everyone now plays an active role in sharing their views about the service. For example,

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provision

through questionnaires, comment boxes and discussions, practitioners encourage children and parents to share their views.

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provision

Relationships with parents are excellent and through high levels of communication and information sharing, practitioners have a very good awareness of children's likes and needs. Practitioners regularly discuss with parents children's care needs, the activities they enjoy and through regular written progress reports parents are fully aware of their child's progress and learning priorities. Practitioners also provide information to parents to how they can support their child's learning at home, although this is more detailed for older children. Therefore, there is more scope to enhance this further, especially for younger children. Discussions with parents establish they are extremely happy with the quality of care and high standards in place. For example, they state that practitioners are professional, approachable and very knowledgeable about child development. They feel their children are safe and that the setting promotes 'family centred care' because they

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provision

understand the needs of the family and children. They are also very complementary about the wide range of activities available and the progress their children make, saying that their children gain 'skills for life'. They also comment on that they feel any concerns that they may arise would be taken on board and dealt with seriously, quickly and efficiently. Practitioners work extremely well with other professionals and agencies involved in children's learning and care. For example, through their precise and accurate observation and assessment records they quickly identify children's individual needs, which mean they effectively involve other agencies if early intervention is needed to support children's learning.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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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 300911 Local authority Sheffield Inspection number 887775

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 134 Number of children on roll 232 Name of provider Old School House Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection 09/03/2009 Telephone number 0114 2666930

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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

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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