Cleverkidz

Cleverkidz Tithe Farm Road, Houghton Regis, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU5 5JB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 16/01/2013 19/11/2012

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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

 Most children are settled and developing confidence. They make positive relationships with the staff and other children.  The oldest children develop skills and knowledge that will help their future learning in school. They enjoy finding out about numbers, comparing sizes and solving problems.  There are well-established child protection arrangements. Managers and staff understand their responsibilities and work in close partnership with other agencies. This means children are safeguarded well.

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It is not yet good because

 The quality of teaching and the educational programme within the nursery is variable. This leads to some children progressing at a slower rate to others, due to inconsistencies in staffs' knowledge and training.  The indoor and outdoor learning environment is not stimulating for all children. Some children do not have access to a broad range of good quality toys and resources to fully support them in investigating and exploring, and babies do not have daily opportunities to play outside or go on outings.  Not all parents have regular opportunities to support their children's learning by reviewing and contributing to their children's progress records.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the four main rooms and the outside area.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with one of the managers.  The inspector examined a selection of records, action plans and policies.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors spoke to the management team, staff and children at appropriate times.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to at the inspection and from records of parent meetings.

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Information about the setting

Cleverkidz was registered in 2004 on the Early Years Register. It operates from purpose- built premises within the grounds of Tithe Farm Lower School in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, and is privately owned by Cleverkidz Limited. The provision is accessible to all children and serves the local area and wider community. There are enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The provision opens Monday to Friday all year round, with the exception of bank holidays and one week at Christmas. Sessions are from 7am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 102 early years children on roll.

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Information about the setting

The provision provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The provision employs 14 members of childcare staff. Of these, 12 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3.

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must:

 review and monitor the precise training needs of the workforce to ensure all staff members have the knowledge to offer a well-planned educational programme and quality learning experiences, that will help all children develop the characteristics of effective learning  make sure that babies benefit from planned outdoor activities or outings on a daily basis so that their health and development is fully supported.

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

 review and improve the learning environment to ensure there is a rich and varied range of resources available across the whole of the nursery that are designed to stimulate all children's interests and support their desire to investigate and explore

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

 extend partnerships with parents by developing methods for consistently encouraging all parents to regularly review and contribute to their child's learning and development records.

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who attend

The staff team in each room plan an educational programme that broadly meets children's needs and enables them to make steady progress in most areas of learning and development. However, recent inconsistencies in staffing levels have led to variable practice. The activities and experiences for some children are well planned, but for others they are less effective. Therefore, some children are not fully motivated or engaged at all times and their progress is slower. For example, a group of one to two-year-old children is invited to experiment with making marks with paint and brushes. Whilst some children are eager to take part and attempt to mix the paints, others do not sustain their interest because staff to do not engage their interest, challenge or extend their learning in a meaningful way. Older children, however, show greater levels of motivation and are actively learning through play because staff know how to build on their interests. For

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who attend

example, a group of boys eagerly use measuring tapes to measure furniture and equipment in the room. Staff set challenges and problems to solve that encourage their thinking and understanding of number and size. This helps them to continue concentrating and solve problems. Children who thread beads on a lace are challenged to think how they can stop the beads falling off the end of the lace. They work out what is needed and use their skill and manual dexterity to thread the beads on to the lace. They persevere for some time in order to complete the task.

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who attend

The observation, assessment and planning system is currently under review and steps are being taken to ensure that all staff receive training in this area. The staff use observations of children to plan for their next steps in learning, although, this is not always clearly highlighted in children's learning portfolios so that less knowledgeable staff have clear information about the learning priorities for each child. The nursery is beginning to make a written summary of children's developmental progress when they are between two and three years of age which they review and share with parents. The staff involve parents to an extent in children's learning by giving feedback and summarising their progress at parent meetings, However, this approach is not always fully successful. For example, while some staff take steps to make parents aware that they can see their child's learning portfolio at any time, those parents spoken to at inspection did not appear to be aware of

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who attend

this and said they did not have regular opportunities to contribute to their child's progress records. There are some steps taken to try to engage parents in supporting their children at home by sending home activity sheets and staff are continuing to seek new ways to build on this.

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who attend

Overall, the nursery environment is comfortable and safe. Some rooms are adequately equipped with toys and resources which children can access independently. For example, within the baby room the youngest children really enjoy exploring toys that are hidden in a tunnel and examining the interesting range of textures and materials provided, such as cardboard boxes, containers and different papers. However, the quality of toys and resources are not consistent across the nursery. As a result, the learning environment does not always spark children's interest or motivate them to explore and investigate.

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who attend

Young babies are supported well in the development of their early communication and language. Staff members respond to their gestures and babbling by modelling language and conversation to help develop their understanding. Staff members across the nursery use appropriate methods to support those children that need extra help with their speech and language, including seeking expert support from external professionals when necessary. For example, they provide picture cards to help children understand and communicate their needs, play games, read stories and model clear language and conversation to aid children's development in this area. Overall, children are supported to acquire the basic skills and knowledge to prepare them for the transition to school.

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

A recent lack of staff continuity has impacted on the quality of practice that some children receive in the nursery. Nevertheless, staff are warm and caring towards the children and promote a sense of fun. Babies relate well to their carers, they are confident enough to explore their surroundings and enjoy socialising with other children. For example, they enjoy playing hide-and-seek in the play house and squeal with excitement as they see their peers peeping out of the windows. Children develop self-esteem because staff give plenty of praise and encouragement. They begin to understand behaviour boundaries and modify their behaviour because staff explain to them what will happen when they act inappropriately.

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

Children have access to spacious and secure outdoor areas to develop their physical skills. Older children learn how to challenge themselves by taking risks in a safe environment as they climb, balance and practise throwing and catching bean bags with a member of staff. However, babies are less well supported because they tend to only use their outdoor area when the weather is fine. Although babies have plenty of indoor space in which to crawl and practice walking, they do not benefit from being outside in the fresh air on a daily basis, and this restricts benefits to their health, development and general well-being.

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

The nursery takes part in a healthy eating programme that ensures menus are approved as meeting nutritional requirements. The older children have hearty appetites and manipulate cutlery well to feed themselves. Snack times provide some opportunities for children to develop independence as they serve themselves and take turns to be a helper. Children are encouraged put on their coats, manage their personal hygiene and help themselves to drinking water when they are thirsty.

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

Children are prepared for the transition of moving up to the next room in the nursery. They spend time visiting the new room and meeting the staff and children so that they can become familiar with their new surroundings. In addition, all two to four-year-old children share their lunch time together, which helps their capacity to build positive relationships with other children and staff.

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provision

Overall, staff are deployed appropriately. On the day of inspection appropriate adult to child ratios where met, however, following information received the inspection found that there have been occasions when the nursery has not complied with this requirement. This is partly because the setting provides emergency care to some children and it is not always possible to know in advance when they are attending. In addition, there have been difficulties in maintaining a consistent staffing team. Those in charge are now in the process of employing additional staff and steps have been taken to improve contingency plans, that allow managers to call on bank staff and re-deploy other staff members during sickness and absences. Child protection procedures are well understood. The managers are knowledgeable and experienced in working in partnership with parents and other agencies in order to protect children and support any additional needs. Relationships with the safeguarding authorities

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provision

and health professionals are well-established. Staff members are well informed about the nursery's procedures and understand their role in protecting children. The environment is safe and secure because risk assessments are managed efficiently. The nursery has robust recruitment and vetting procedures. These demonstrate that appropriate checks have been carried out to ensure staff members are suitable to work with children.

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provision

Self-evaluation is beginning to bring about improvement. The nursery gathers the views of parents through questionnaires, a parent forum and secure social networking sites. Through this, the nursery has arranged 'family days' where parents, children and staff go to the seaside. This helps strengthen the partnership between the nursery and its families. Managers take account of identified weaknesses raised at previous inspections, consider the views of the local authority early years team and make their own assessment of the quality of service they provide. From this, they draw up action plans setting out their goals. Some progress is being made towards meeting the actions and recommendations set at the last inspection, although, too little time has elapsed for improvements to have had a significant impact on the overall quality of the nursery. There are clear plans to build a more stable and settled staff team, and those in charge are working towards more

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provision

effective monitoring of the educational programme. Managers are also beginning to monitor staff performance, however, this is not yet fully effective and there is more to do to ensure positive steps are taken to improve both staffs' knowledge and daily practice in order to raise the overall quality of the nursery.

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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 EY278278 Local authority Central Bedfordshire Inspection number 899303

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 79 Number of children on roll 102 Name of provider Cleverkidz Limited Date of previous inspection 19/11/2012 Telephone number 01582 868000

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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: 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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