Linskill Nursery

Linskill Nursery Linskill & North Tyneside Community Development Trust, Linskill Centre, Linskill Terrace, NORTH SHIELDS, Tyne and Wear, NE30 2AY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/01/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

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

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This provision is satisfactory

 Staff work well with parents and other professionals to ensure that continuity and consistency is in place, which benefits children's individual needs.  Children have warm relationships with staff. They seek their key person out when they need support and enjoy one-to-one attention, which benefits their social and emotional needs.  Children are kept safe as the room is secure, children are well supervised and child protection procedures are clear.

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It is not yet good because

 There is insufficient opportunity for children to express themselves, as creative and imaginary play is limited.  Staff focus too much on the nursery lunch-time routine, rather than babies individual routines and do not always fully support older children to manage their own self-care tasks.  Ratios are not fully maintained at all times to enable staff to fulfil their key person role in supporting children to settle in at the beginning of the day.  Management do not yet carry out effective observations of staff in practice to fully enable them to target those staff who may need extra help through coaching. This means that children are not always fully supported in their learning.

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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 observed activities in the main playroom and hall and chatted to children during their play.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting and regular discussions with the manager and deputy throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to two key persons and discussed their key children and viewed their learning journey's.  The inspector held discussions with some parents to receive their feedback.

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Information about the setting

Linskill Nursery was registered in August 2012 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in the Linskill Centre in North Shields, Tyne and Wear and is managed by a public limited company, LNTCDT. The nursery serves the local and surrounding areas and is accessible to all children. It operates from one main room, with access to a hall and associated facilities. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 10 members of childcare staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and two members of staff hold level 2. One member of staff and the manager hold Early Years Professional Status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year. Sessions are available from 7.30am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 86 children attending who are within the early years age group. The nursery supports children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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must:

 maintain staff to child ratios at all times, to ensure that staff are able to carry out their key person roles effectively  improve supervision by carrying out regular observation on staff practice and provide coaching as necessary.

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

 improve the educational programme for expressive arts and design, to ensure that children have more opportunities to be creative and use their imaginations

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

 support children's well-being further by focusing care on children's individual personal needs and routines.

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who attend

Staff have an emerging knowledge and understanding of how to use the Early Years Foundation Stage in practice. They have all received basic training to help them with planning, observation and assessment to ensure that they track children's progress. They are beginning to use learning journeys for their key children, which helps them to see what they are good at, what they enjoy and what to focus on further. Staff use their planning documents as a working tool noting down particular children's interests, which helps them to decide what activities to put out for them. However, continuous provision for the educational programme, expressive arts and design, is not in place. This does not give children sufficient opportunities for free creative play and to use their imaginations. For example, sand, water, paint, dressing up and role play equipment is only put out on a planned basis.

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who attend

Once children settle in during the morning they enjoy their activities. They play happily on their own and with their friends. They love to be in the hall and they manage to manoeuvre small wheeled toys, such as, pushing themselves along on bikes and scooters successfully. Staff are on hand to support children in their play, such as, by throwing and rolling balls and they encourage them to run around and use up excess energy, which promotes their good health. Younger children seek out their key person for reassurance and to engage them in their play. When the painting easels are put out for the older pre- school children in the afternoon they clearly enjoy free painting. They begin to give meaning to their marks, name colours and enjoy getting messy. Toddlers also enjoy sand play, they smile at adults, handle the sand and sit in the low level sand pit as they explore its textures and feel. When children have opportunities to use role play, they carry around

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who attend

shopping bags, handbags and 'babies' to re-enact real life situations. They put balls inside the cones and pretend they are ice creams. This shows that children are developing their imaginary skills well, when opportunities and relevant equipment is available to them. Staff are supportive, they ask children questions about what they are doing and show a genuine interest in them; for example, by asking children what presents they got for their birthday.

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who attend

Most staff have a sound understanding of how to carry out the progress check at age two. Staff who are less confident in this area receive support to complete the summary from one of the senior nursery nurses. They involve parents fully in the process, which ensures that they are kept up-to-date with their child's learning. The summary also includes sections on 'encouraging and supporting' next steps in children's learning both at home and in the nursery. This helps staff to work in partnership with parents effectively to ensure that children are ready for the next stage in their learning.

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

The key person system works reasonably well and parents know who their child's key person is. They provide the link for parents and give handover information when children are dropped off and collected. When toddlers are ready to move up to the pre-school area the child's current key worker accompanies them until they feel secure and parents are kept informed of the process. Younger children spend some time in the pre-school area, for example, at lunch time, which also helps them become used to the environment. The manager has recently introduced transition forms as a useful handover, which gives the new key person an insight into the individual needs, interests and personalities of the child. These are also used if a child moves on to a second or new setting.

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

Children have secure relationships with staff. They seek them out when the need support and receive plenty of cuddles when they have just woken up, which helps them to feel safe. Most children enter the nursery happily, although at the beginning of the day the lack of equipment and activities available does not fully support or reflect the children's interests. The environment was also not welcoming or enabling, which was partly due to lack of available staff to set the room up. The afternoon session provided children with many more learning opportunities. Staff set up water, sand, painting easels and role play equipment. The children clearly enjoy using these resources confidently and independently with sufficient staff support to keep them safe and interested. However, at lunch time staff focus too much on nursery routines rather than the individual care needs of the children. This means that babies become unnecessarily upset; for example, while sitting in

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

a high chair, but are quickly soothed once taken out and given a cuddle and reassurance. Older children are also not fully supported to manage their own care tasks such as wiping their noses as tissues are not readily available and they do not receive sufficient support or encouragement to do this for themselves. Children enjoy a varied menu of substantial meals and snacks. They are encouraged and supported to feed themselves, which promotes their independence well.

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

Children are beginning to understand how to behave, as they learn to accept others in line with their stage of development. Some staff are enthusiastic and give children lots of positive praise and encouragement, which raises their self-esteem. Other staff are quiet and gentle, which promotes children's personal, social and emotional needs well. Therefore, the staff team provides a suitable balance to meet children's care needs.

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provision

The manager has a suitable understanding of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The welfare requirements are in place to keep children safe. For example, suitable recruitment and selection procedures are practiced and all staff are appropriately interviewed and vetted before they can start work with children. Regular one-to-one meetings and appraisals helps staff to identify their learning needs and training to help them improve their knowledge and practice. However, some staff have a better understanding of child development and the learning and development requirements than others. The management team have not yet undertaken staff observations in practice to enable them to target and help staff who may need extra support through coaching. This means that children are not always fully supported in their learning.

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provision

The Ofsted self-evaluation form is completed and identifies priorities for improvement. There is also an action plan which has been produced in conjunction with the local authority advisor, who gives the nursery good support and training as she visits regularly. Some of the evaluation comments in the self-evaluation form are not a true reflection of what was observed during the inspection. However, when the manager is present she is pro-active in motivating staff to ensure they provide appropriate learning activities for the children. For example, the afternoon session for the children supported their learning and development whereas the morning session did not. The manager is aware of the nurseries strengths and areas needed for development. Plans for the future include moving to a purpose built area to improve the facilities for the children.

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provision

Children are suitably safeguarded as the manager and deputy have a satisfactory understanding of their role and responsibilities in child protection. They know how to report concerns and ensure that staff read and follow the relevant policy and procedures. Children play in a secure environment and staff carry out regular daily risk assessments to ensure that hazards are minimised to keep children safe. At the beginning of the session staff to child ratios were not met, for a short period, as some staff were late due to inclement weather and the staff present were not aware of the contingency plan. Therefore, key persons were not able to fulfil their roles in helping children to settle into the nursery and separate from their parents happily.

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provision

The manger and key staff ensure that agreed strategies with parents are put in place to support children who may need more help; for example, by working effectively with portage workers, health visitors and speech and language therapists. This demonstrates that they have good working relationships with other professionals to enhance children's learning and development. Staff have friendly relationships with parents. They exchange a regular two-way flow of information and staff also complete daily diaries on each child. There is an informative noticeboard, easily accessible policies and procedures file and parents receive a 'Welcome' handbook. This ensures parents are suitably informed of the nursery routines and their child's day. Documentation such as, children's details, parental consent and information on children's individual routines and activities they enjoy is fully completed, which helps staff to gain a basic awareness of children's needs and likes.

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provision

Parents are very pleased with the setting and verbal feedback from them included, 'my child loves it here', and 'settling in sessions are flexible and staff are very much relaxed about it as these are tailored to the child'.

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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 EY450277 Local authority North Tyneside Inspection number 811804

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 86 Name of provider LNTCDT Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 0191 2704240

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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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