St Aidans Day Nursery

St Aidans Day Nursery 10 Adlard Road, Wheatley Hills, Doncaster, DN2 5NH

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 12/11/2012 11/02/2010

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early years provision

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

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This provision is good

 Staff form an experienced and committed team. They have a good understanding of how young children learn and develop and show great satisfaction in seeing them make good progress and grow in confidence.  Children's developing self-confidence and feelings of belonging are given high priority. The staff are skilled in supporting children to become familiar with the daily routine and feel safe within the setting.  Children are happy, interested in their activities and eager to try new experiences. They show good levels of curiosity, imagination and positive behaviour.  Staff have created a welcoming and well-resourced environment, which actively promotes independence and choice. Children have access to an excellent range of resources to support all areas of learning.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There are fewer opportunities for parents of children in some rooms to regularly contribute their own observations of their children's learning at home, into their learning journeys, in order to further help staff when planning personalised learning opportunities for each child.  Children's next steps for learning and development are not consistently shared with parents throughout the nursery, so that they have the opportunity to effectively support their children's learning at home.

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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 held meetings with the nursery manager and the owner of the nursery.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's learning journeys, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of practitioners working in the setting, the providers self- evaluation form on the computer, the providers website and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took into account the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children during free-flow and focused activities in all three rooms and during outdoor play.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children, examined the children's learning journeys to establish their progress in learning and held discussions with their key person  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the Deputy Manager.

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Information about the setting

St Aidans Day Nursery was registered in 2009. It operates from a converted building situated in Wheatley Hills, near Doncaster. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play. It operates from 7.30am to 6pm with the option of a 7am start and a 6.30pm finish if required. The nursery opens Monday to Friday, all year round with the exception of bank holidays. The nursery takes and collects a small number of children to and from the local primary school. The nursery also offers care for children aged over eight years to 11 years. Children occupying these places share the same facilities as those in the early years age range.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 19 members of childcare staff. Of these, 17 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 with the other two working towards this qualification. The nursery manager and deputy are qualified at level 5 and they are currently working towards level 6 with the deputy also working towards her Early Years Professional Status. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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Information about the setting

Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 121 children attending, all of whom are within the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It is able to support children who speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 develop further means of involving parents in sharing their own observations of their children's learning at home and the assessment and planning for their child

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

 ensure that children's next steps for learning and development are regularly shared with parents throughout the nursery.

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who attend

Children benefit from the staff's positive and enthusiastic engagement in their activities. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of how to engage and capture the children's interest and they fully recognise that they learn through their play. The teaching strategies are effective across the different age ranges of the children who attend. Children settle well in this welcoming environment where their learning and the quiet and calm atmosphere enables them to feel confident, take pleasure in their own achievements and engage well with the learning environment. The educational programme enables children to freely make their own play choices, either indoors, or through free-flow play into the secure outdoor play area for those in the pre-school and two to three year age range.

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who attend

There is a balance of adult-led and child-led activities throughout the nursery. For example, circle time and story time are effectively led by adults and children enjoy singing number rhymes and music time. This is complemented by the well laid out continuous play provision in all rooms. Pre-school children play with jelly, carrots and dry cereal to hold a spontaneous tea party. While others ladle and work as a team in the water tray, supported by staff who extend children's vocabulary by using language, such as, 'full', 'empty' and 'pour'. Younger children build with bricks and delight in discovering that they can see through the square hole. Babies enjoy opportunities to investigate and explore their environment and play with a range of natural resources, where staff use simple words and join in copying the children's actions. For example, they pretend to wash their own face, look in the mirror and expand on the child's speech and language skills by using a simple

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who attend

running commentary on the child's actions.

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who attend

Children are actively encouraged to be creative and curious. They are eager to take part in craft activities where they explore the texture of the play dough and carefully cut it into small squares. Story time is a feature in all rooms, for example, older children enjoy a story about owls. This leads to an impromptu discussion about feelings after a child commented that the baby owl feels sad. Babies also enjoy listening to stories, with staff using props to promote their engagement and active listening. Older children skilfully write their own name on their picture, while younger children display emerging writing skills.

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who attend

The well-equipped outdoor environment has been recently upgraded with excellent opportunities for children to climb, balance and run alongside access to bikes, scooters, ball and hoops. Children play in extensive outdoor sand pits to find buried animals. Young children are encouraged to name them and this develops into them burying the animals for others to find. Children play with the waterfall and demonstrate how it works.

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who attend

Systems to assess children's starting points on entry and transitions to school, are good. Staff work closely with parents from the beginning to find out about their children's interests and capabilities and liaise with them regularly. Staff get to know individual children well through discussions with parents, so that they know how to respond and support them in their individual learning and development. Secure planning across the seven areas of learning ensures that all aspects are sufficiently included. The key person system is effective and planning is completed for each child that follows their unique interests. However, next steps in child's learning are not always shared with parents regularly to support children's learning at home, especially in the baby room. Parents are not yet fully engaged in contributing their own observations of their children's development to their child's learning journeys.

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who attend

The setting is organised well to meet the needs of all the children who attend. The well- resourced learning environment supports children to make choices and to be independent. For example, pre-school children self-register, they know where their coat pegs and the toilets are and they collect their belongings independently.

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

Children are developing secure attachments because the staff are deployed effectively through the key person system. They know the children well and they respond to their individual needs. Children demonstrate that they feel safe because they move between their chosen activities freely and they approach the staff for comfort and reassurance as they need it. For example, children climb onto a staff member's lap when reading stories and they ask for assistance when required. Babies snuggle into the key persons arms when having a bottle and are quickly comforted when they have a minor fall. Staff manage behaviour effectively and they act as good role models. They reinforce clear guidelines when necessary and take time to explain to children the impact of their actions on others and why they have to share resources.

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

Pre-school children develop good self-care skills, for example, as they are encouraged to wash their hands or take a tissue to wipe their noses and they go to the toilet independently. The staff know which children require extra support in the toilet areas and support these individuals very sensitively. All children have access to drinking water and older children are chosen to set the table for lunch. When a child drops some forks on the floor, the staff take the opportunity to explain that they will be dirty and the child is encouraged to select some clean ones from the cutlery tray. They eat healthy snacks and choose what they want to eat and drink. They eat home-cooked, freshly prepared food at mealtimes. An extensive choice of fresh fruit is available at morning snack and all children are encouraged to try fruit they are unfamiliar with. Babies are encouraged to use a spoon to feed themselves and are praised for their efforts.

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

Internal play space is organised well to create a warm and welcoming setting for children. They are cared for in different rooms according to age and ability, which ensures that each room is set up to provide children with free access to an extensive range of good quality developmentally appropriate toys and resources. All the children attending are treated as individuals and with respect by the dedicated and enthusiastic staff team, who provide them with a safe environment and interesting activities that promotes their feelings of well-being and belonging.

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

Children are encouraged to assess their own risks and take responsibility for their own safety. For example, taking care when going down the steps into the messy area. Parents are confident to speak to any staff member in addition to their key worker to raise any concerns or discuss aspects of their child's day.

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provision

Leadership and management are good. The manager is motivated and skilled and is developing a strong team, who work well together and are focused on providing a quality service. The owner and manager work together to ensure the quality of care for the children is kept to a high standard, while still ensuring the sustainability of the business. The setting's robust system of self-evaluation, which involves the views of all users, effectively monitors the whole setting, including the provision for learning and development. This leads to the clear identification of targets for future development in all areas. The manager has clear systems in place to performance manage the staff team. This results in any underperformance of staff being tackled, with regular supervisions and appraisal being held to ensure the ongoing development of all of them.

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provision

There is a strong dynamic vision for the future of the nursery, which includes the commissioning of a bespoke computer programme that will allow the parents to access their children's up-to-date information, including details of progress, current individual plans and daily activities. It will also allow parents to view their child in nursery via the close circuit television systems already in place. Longer term plans involve a new outdoor area for the babies.

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provision

Robust recruitment, vetting and induction procedures are in place to ensure the suitability of the staff team working with the children. The majority of staff are qualified in childcare with the remaining members of staff currently undertaking a childcare qualification at level 3. Most of them hold current first aid certificates to ensure children's health and safety are maintained. Staff show a good commitment to taking on a range of training to support ongoing development. The large staff team work well together. Recommendations in the previous Ofsted report have been addressed. For example, staff now ensure that babies have daily access to the outdoors and are taken on regular walks to the parks.

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provision

The setting's clear policies and procedures are understood and implemented well by staff to ensure the well-being of children is promoted. For example, the setting is securely maintained and potential hazards are identified and minimised through their risk assessment procedures. Staff rigorously maintain procedures to support safeguarding, such as attendance recording, the implementation of a mobile phone policy and a visitor book. Children are also safeguarded because staff have a good knowledge of child protection issues and procedures.

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provision

The setting has recently updated the systems to observe, assess and monitor each child's progress. This is recorded through each child's learning journey that contains ongoing observations and photographs. The key persons evaluate each child's progress and use the observations to assist with the planning of their individual next steps. Children in need of extra support are identified and strategies are implemented, for example, the use of signs to support language development. The nursery is currently implementing a range of new forms for the observation and assessment of children's individual needs, as a result of the revised Early Years Foundation Stage requirements, although, this has yet to be rolled out into all rooms. The child's learning journey is shared with parents at twice yearly parents evenings and more regularly if asked. Detailed 'Getting to know you' forms are completed and the setting seeks parent's thoughts on their children to inform starting

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provision

points. This has recently been updated with the inclusion of yearly child's interest sheets. These will enhance the child's learning journey and help staff when planning for children's individual needs. The nursery has started developing a system of monitoring the progress of groups of children and their progress in different areas of learning.

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provision

Parents are provided with good information about the setting via the extensive website and newsletters and can contribute through parent forums. Clear information is shared and exchanged to ensure that parents are kept up to date with information about their children's daily care routines and their ongoing progress and development. However, in the baby room, this is more bias towards care routines. All parents spoken to at the time of the inspection comment extremely positively about the setting, stating their children are happy and settled. They all commented on the friendly professional staff team and highlighted the excellent home-cooked food and the quality and high class facilities provided by the nursery. The nursery has good working relationships with the local primary schools, health visitors and other professionals involved with individual children and families. All visitors are greeted when they arrive and children's arrival and departure

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provision

is closely monitored and supervised by the staff.

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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 EY398353 Local authority Doncaster Inspection number 887613

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 162 Number of children on roll 121 Name of provider ST AIDAN'S DAY NURSERY LTD Date of previous inspection 11/02/2010 Telephone number 01302 340412

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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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