Walkers Day Nursery

Walkers Private Day Nursery St David's Walk, Church Street,, Moreton - in - Marsh, Glos, GL56 0LT

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 13/02/2013 07/04/2011

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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

 Staff are caring and form secure attachments with the children; therefore, children are happy and settle well.  Staff promote positive partnerships with parents and other agencies, which effectively support families and meet some of the individual needs of children.  All staff have a clear understanding of how to safeguard children to promote their welfare and safety.

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It is not yet good because

 The programme for the supervision of staff, including coaching and mentoring, is not fully developed to ensure consistently high quality teaching.  Staff do not always use their observations of children's progress to plan for individual children's learning needs; therefore, children are not always sufficiently challenged.  Staff do not fully promote children's participation at snack and meal times, which limits their opportunities to develop independence.

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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 children's play both inside and outside, and carried out observations of two children.  The inspector talked to staff and children at appropriate times.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager and carried out a joint observation with the manager outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a sample of documentation online and in folders, including children's assessment records, planning, self-evaluation evidence and policies.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Walkers Private Day Nursery opened in 1986 and has been registered under the current ownership since 1999. It is a privately owned nursery, located in the Cotswold market town of Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire. The nursery operates from a converted school and comprises two main playrooms, a small kitchen area, office, and toilet facilities. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area with impact-absorbent surfaces. The nursery is within walking distance of St. David's Primary School and other local amenities including the library, park and local shops. The nursery serves both the town and surrounding rural areas.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It offers care for a maximum of 24 children under eight years of age at any one time. There are currently 26 children on roll in the early years age group. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are currently four older children attending before and after school. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and children who learn English as an additional language. The nursery is open each weekday, between 7.30am and 6pm, for 48 weeks of the year, including a two-week break at Christmas. Children attend on a full- and part-time basis. Staff walk to St. David's School to drop off and collect children during school term times.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs eight staff to work directly with the children, and three staff work on a voluntary basis. The manager holds a relevant early years degree and the deputy is qualified to level 3. One other staff member holds a degree level qualification and three staff hold suitable early years qualifications at level 2 or 3. Two staff members who work part time have no recognised early years qualification.

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must:

 improve the use of observations of children's individual needs, interests, and stages of development to plan and resource a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all of the areas of learning and development.

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

 develop further the use of staff supervision to monitor and improve the quality of teaching

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

 improve opportunities for children to be independent, for example by enabling them to prepare food for snack times.

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who attend

The educational programme for children's learning adequately covers all seven areas of learning. The staff are developing their understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements. Each child has a key person, who spends time with parents to find out about their child's learning at home to establish their starting points. Through observations and assessments, staff are beginning to have a sound knowledge of individual children's interests and abilities. However, they do not fully use their observational assessments to plan the next steps in individual children's learning. This means that children are not fully challenged and activities are not fully extended to promote children's interests or introduce new learning opportunities.

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who attend

The children are encouraged to make their own choices of toys and resources, and staff interact with children appropriately. For example, staff help children to put on dressing-up clothes and play number games with bricks to help support their learning. Staff use events such as the recent snow to extend children's play. Children made a snowman in the garden and discussed what would make him melt. A group of children delighted in sprinkling him with salt and used trowels and spades to knock him down. As a result, children have sound opportunities to explore the natural world. Staff use some outdoor equipment to promote children's physical play. However, the resources do not fully challenge more-able children, and as a result, some children lose interest because they lack stimulating resources. This is also evident during quieter times after lunch when children are encouraged to play with table-top toys and games rather than being able

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who attend

Staff produce attractive displays of children's work and things they have said which show that they value their opinions and achievements. Children select resources from well- labelled drawers and also ask for resources stored in cupboards. As a result, they can make some choices about their play. The room is set up in learning centres, including a creative workshop, sand and water tray, role-play home corner and shop. However, these are not always used independently by the children. Staff place emphasis on children's communication and language, physical and personal and social development. For instance, whole group times are interactive and include children learning new rhymes and listening to stories. The older children competently sing rhymes to each other, which helps to promote their communication and language skills. However, sometimes the group is too large to effectively meet the individual needs of all children. For example, staff do not

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who attend

provide prompts or picture clues to involve the youngest children, which limits their involvement and participation.

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who attend

Children are generally working within the typical range of development expected for their age and develop sound skills to support their future learning. The provider has introduced the required progress check for children aged two years and shares this assessment with parents. Staff are aware of the importance of early identification of any specific needs and work with specialists to support the child and family. The special educational needs coordinator has experience of working with children with identified special needs and disabilities and strives to work in partnership with parents to meet them.

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

The nursery provides a homely, caring environment that effectively supports children's transition from home. The key person forms trusting secure relationships with the children and their families and support their individual needs. Parents particularly welcome this aspect of the nursery and praise the supportive, caring staff. As a result children, including those who learn English as an additional language, settle well and feel safe.

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

The children are well behaved and staff act consistently to praise and encourage their efforts and achievements. Staff have a good understanding of the safety of children and understand the procedures to follow if they have any concerns. Children feel safe and secure and are reminded by staff of how to keep safe. For example, they learn to safely use the spades outside to avoid injuring themselves or others. Staff promote children's awareness of adopting good personal hygiene routines, including washing their hands with soap and hot water to prevent germs spreading. Children are developing their growing independence with their own personal care routines and staff ably support younger children when they no longer need nappies. This helps to promote each child's well-being.

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

Staff provide a hot meal at lunch time or an alternative if requested by parents. Children all sit together in a social group for meals and staff support them with cutting up food and reminding children of their manners. The children are learning about healthy eating with a well-balanced weekly menu provided and choices of fruits and vegetables. However, staff do not always meet the needs of the older children. For example, they do not provide plates and child sized knives to support children's growing independence in cutting up their food, or provide utensils to encourage them to serve their own portions.

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

The inside and outside learning spaces have some resources to promote children's learning across all areas of learning. Planned activities and the free play provision are not always inviting or inspiring, to challenge or motivate the more able children. The children use the outside space every day and enjoy being in the fresh air. Staff talk about the seasonal changes and introduce new vocabulary. The children occasionally go to the adjacent school grounds to access larger outdoor spaces to promote physical development.

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

The nursery has established good relationships with their feeder schools and local teachers. Transition arrangements include a number of visits to school and the use of a photograph diary of their visits to aid the transition process. As a result, the children are well prepared and confidently move to their new schools.

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provision

The manager demonstrates a clear understanding of her responsibility in meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements. She has attended safe-recruitment training and has a robust induction and recruitment procedure in place. Staff are encouraged to further their qualifications and, through annual appraisal, to identify any training needs. The manager is available for informal discussions with all staff, but she has not fully established regular supervision to foster a culture of continuous improvement regarding staff performance. As a result, there are some weaknesses in staff practice, such as the planning for individual children's learning needs and providing appropriate challenge for all children.

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provision

Staff are committed to reviewing practice through self-evaluation. They recently commenced a national quality assurance scheme to identify areas to develop. The deputy manager was responsible for the collation of evidence and the staff have successfully completed the first phase of the scheme. The development areas focused on a review of transition to the local schools and developing the outside play spaces. While staff have made progress regarding children's transitions to school and new vegetable planting pots at the entrance to the Nursery, there is still further work to be done in the outside area. The manager is planning to establish mentor support with another provider to develop further monitoring and evaluation of the educational programme. She gathers the views of children and parents through questionnaires and takes action in response, for example extending the nursery opening times.

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provision

The manager has partially met the recommendations from the last inspection. She has revised the registration information collected from parents and a sample of these show they are all completed correctly. The children are learning to handle tools and resources safely and the display of children's own work shows they have created pictures using a range of media and materials. However, the children still have a limited range of play experiences at times, which reduces their learning opportunities. Staff assess children's progress and identify any specific needs. However, they do not always plan to extend children's individual needs and interests. Some resources and free-choice sessions do not provide a rich, imaginative environment to fully promote children's play and learning needs.

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provision

The manager and staff have worked hard to build effective relationships with parents and the local community. They support parents when they leave their child for the first time. A detailed induction programme and written information, alongside a designated key-person system, helps to support children's transitions from home to nursery. Parents are invited to contribute to the children's learning files to share their children's achievements at home. They value parents' evenings to discuss their children's progress. They welcome the opportunity to borrow books from nursery and contribute to themes to support their involvement with their child's learning at home. Staff engage with other professionals, for example at local schools and nurseries to promote children's care and learning needs. They seek specialist support from outside agencies to help them meet the children's specific needs.

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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 101801 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 813211

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 26 Name of provider Caroline Louise Koenig Date of previous inspection 07/04/2011 Telephone number 01608 651334

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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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