Swan Meadow Cottage Day Nursery

Swan Meadow Cottage Day Nursery Delph Cottages, Slackcote Lane, Delph, Oldham, OL3 5TW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 18/02/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

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

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This provision is good

 There is an effective key person system, which promotes positive relationships between staff, parents and children. Staffs are consistently attentive to children's individual needs. As a result, children are happy, secure and enjoy being at the nursery.  The management of the setting provides excellent support, encourages teamwork and provides opportunities for professional development. Staff are involved in the self- evaluation process and contribute their views and ideas for future development.  Children make good progress in their learning because observations and assessments are undertaken. Next steps in children's learning are identified and as a result, activities are stimulating and provide appropriate challenges.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Partnership working with other early years providers is not yet fully embedded to consistently share information about children's learning to compliment and support their future development.  Opportunities for toddlers to develop recognition of themselves as individuals have not yet been fully explored.

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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 compulsory part 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 a meeting with the manager, talked to staff and key persons and carried out a joint observation with the manager of an adult-led activity.  The inspector read the self-evaluation form prior to the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's development records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of staff working within the setting and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in each of the nursery rooms and viewed toys, equipment and resources.

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Information about the setting

Swan Meadow Cottage was registered in 2012 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. It is situated in converted cottages in the Delph area of Oldham and is managed by a private limited company. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs nine members of childcare staff. Of these, eight hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 or 3. The owner of the setting holds Early Years Professional Status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 52 children attending who are within the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children. It supports children with special needs and/or disabilities.

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

 encourage children to develop a stronger sense of identity by displaying photographs of them within their own personal spaces

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

 strengthen existing partnerships with other early years providers to consistently share children's learning in order to compliment and support their individual developmental needs.

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who attend

This nursery offers children and parents a home-like atmosphere with soft furnishings. Children can play in small groups, allowing them to feel safe and happy. Staff are skilful in their understanding about how to observe, plan and assess children's progress, enabling them to support and promote their learning. Children enjoy a wide range of stimulating activities during calm and focused sessions, which enables them to make good progress towards early learning goals. Staff have high expectations of all children and the completion of the progress check at age two, ensures that younger children's development is tracked and early intervention sought should this be necessary. This ensures any gaps in learning are addressed. Children with special needs and/or disabilities are particularly well supported because staff work very closely with external agencies and professionals to ensure they receive the appropriate intervention and support they need. The manager has

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who attend

recently introduced cohort tracking to identify the rate of progress for different groups of children. This has enabled her to identify where children may need extra support to further support their progress.

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who attend

Older children demonstrate their creative skills and imagination when participating in creating boats from a variety of materials. They experiment with mixing colours together to create new colours and staff ask open questions, such as 'What do you think will happen?'. This encourages the children's thinking skills. The good organisation of the rooms and the well-planned activities means that children are able to make independent choices in their play. For example, babies access treasure baskets that are positioned on the floor so that they can choose the objects they want to explore. This enables babies to develop their exploratory and investigation skills. Older children develop their communication and social skills as they confidently ask questions, play cooperatively with their friends and take turns in their play. Through well-planned daily opportunities to explore the outside environment, children develop their physical skills and benefit from

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who attend

fresh air and exercise. For example, they develop their large muscle control, balance and coordination well as they run, jump and climb.

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who attend

Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents share information about their children with the key person to enable staff to provide consistency of care. Parents and staff work together to meet the children's individual needs in a variety of ways including parents evenings, stay and play sessions and suggestion boxes. Parents have contributed to the development of the pre-school provision, therefore, children are interested and engaged in their play. Staff demonstrate an excellent understanding of how children learn and plan their activities based upon this knowledge. Therefore, children are challenged, make good progress in their learning and gain the necessary skills in readiness for school when the time comes.

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

The key person system works effectively. Photographs of children with their key person are displayed, therefore, both children and parents know who their key person is. This successful system results in children feeling confident due to the support they receive. A secondary key person is in place, who acts as a back-up in the event of absence. Therefore, the children always have someone special to care for them, who knows them well and whom they share an attachment with. Children are happy and demonstrate confidence, self-esteem and independence within the nursery environment by self- selecting the activities they wish to engage in and exploring their ideas.

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

Younger children have an individual basket and peg for their belongings and readily collect their items of clothing, which gives them a sense of belonging. However, young children cannot yet recognise their name and the setting does not display photographs, which does not help develop the children's sense of self. All children have the opportunity to explore their feelings and express their emotions in the dedicated sensory room. The settling-in procedure for new children is carefully planned and supported by staff and parents. This minimises parent-child separation anxiety. Parents describe how well their children have settled and how the reassurance from the staff has enabled a smooth transition into the setting.

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

Staff are good role models for children, praising them for their achievements and efforts, which successfully promotes their confidence and self-esteem. As a consequence, children demonstrate very good behaviour. Thorough risk assessments, good staff supervision and daily safety checks ensure that the environment is safe and welcoming to children. This supports them in enjoying their time at the setting and contributes to a positive childcare experience. Healthy and nutritious meals and snacks are freshly prepared and cooked on the premises and food is sourced from a local butcher. Children of all ages play outside every day as part of a healthy lifestyle, enjoying the fresh air and exercise. Children manage their own personal needs as they pour themselves a drink, wash their hands and faces and use the bathroom independently. As a result, children are learning about healthy lifestyles and good hygiene.

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provision

Leadership and management are strong, as they have a good and clear vision of the quality of childcare and education that steers the work of the nursery. They focus their attention on leading an effective and continually improving team. Staff performance is monitored through regular supervision meetings and appraisals where training and development needs are promptly identified. This helps ensure the nursery has a well- trained and supported staff team. Management organise regular team meetings and they attend local area cluster groups where leaders and managers share practice issues. Staff are committed, dedicated and passionate about their work with children. There is a strong focus on training and professional development and more experienced staff are effectively deployed to share their skills and knowledge with the rest of the staff team.

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provision

Effective arrangements are in place to safeguard children's welfare. Clear recruitment procedures ensure that all staff are appropriately vetted and are suitable to work with children. Staff attend child protection training and have a good understanding of their responsibility to provide a safe environment for children. They know what steps to take if they have concerns about a child's welfare. Policies and procedures work well in practice due to a thorough induction process and staff working effectively together as a team.

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provision

Thorough and honest self-evaluation takes into account the views of practitioners, children and parents. This ensures that there is a balanced and representative overview of the setting's practice. Clear action plans ensure that changes are prioritised well and lead to improvements in the provision for children. For example, new tracking sheets have been introduced so staff can view at a glance children's progress and identify the next area of development to focus on. Future plans are in place to develop the outdoor provision to give children further opportunities to explore their ideas in an open space. The setting is undertaking the local authority quality improvement process to support them in continuous improvement.

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provision

There are clear procedures for sharing information with most others to meet individual children's needs. For example, the setting arranges meetings with a range of professionals and parents to review individual educational plans and to set targets for the children. However, partnerships with other early years providers are less established in order to consistently share information about children's learning to compliment and support their developmental learning needs.

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provision

Managers have a clear understanding of the learning and development requirements and continually monitor and review the educational programme to identify areas for improvement. For instance, they have worked together to introduce a peer observation system to review the range of experiences offered to children. The planning and assessment is monitored by the managers to ensure appropriate next steps are planned for children and staff are given good support. As a result, staff have an excellent understanding of their key children's stage of development and any gaps in development are easily identified.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 EY449310 Local authority Oldham Inspection number 882677

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 79 Number of children on roll 52 Name of provider Swan Meadow Private Day Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 01457877826

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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. 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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